Dubai: Twenty-three days is the deadline for Neelam before her employment visa expires. She is desperate for a job not just for her own sustenance, but for the care of her son with special needs, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour, her partially paralysed father and her mother who suffers from psychological problems.
She recently lost her job after her position became redundant. Until now, her employers had been supporting her on humanitarian grounds, she said.
“Life has been a turmoil for me for several years now,” said 36-year-old Neelam (surname withheld on request), from Mumbai.
“It is only a job that could help relieve my troubles.”
Her son Dhiren is now 14. When he was five months old, the family realised that he was different. Doctors diagnosed him with autism. “From then, my husband and his family started behaving indifferently to me and my son.”
“Eventually, they called my father and asked him to take me back.”
Her father, who has been living in the UAE for more than 22 years, was working with the Hindu temple in Bur Dubai.
“My father was my biggest support, especially in caring for Dhiren.”
But last September her father suffered a stroke leaving him partially paralysed.
Since Dhiren also has attention deficit disorder, he is hyperactive most of the time and needs constant care, she said.
Earlier Dhiren used to go to the temple and be there along with his grandfather, until Neelam returned from work.
“My mother is not keeping well. She has not even taken a bath since we moved into this house a month ago. So it’s up to me to care for all three of them.”
Even when Neelam was working she was finding it hard to make both ends meet with her salary of Dh3,000, she said.
For the past few years now, she has also been in a legal battle to settle her divorce issues and get sustenance from her husband. Previously the court had ordered her husband to pay Dh500 per month, but it has not been paid, except once or twice, according to Neelam. She added that he is no longer in the UAE.
Asked why she hasn’t considered moving back to India, she said that the care and education Dhiren receives in Dubai is what stops her from doing so.
After much trouble, she just got Dhiren’s visa issues resolved; however his tuition fees and the medical bills of her parents are still worrying her.
