Manju Shrestha of Dolakha district reached Syria four months ago. Although she was supposed to go to Iraq for employment, Manju was conned by her agent and  taken to the country that is  in the thick of a civil war. She did get a job as a housemaid, but that is no incentive. She fears for her life constantly.

 

“I am confined to my employer’s house. I hear bomb explosions everyday and, at times, bullets have hit the house as well,” Manju said. To add to the problems, she complained of not being paid for the past four months and that her employer has time and again tried raping her.

 

Her husband, Ram Shrestha, only recently came to know of his wife’s where abouts. “I came to know that the agent took her to Syria instead of Iraq as per the agreement. I am not aware of her exact location and living conditions. The last time we talked over the phone, she was uneasy speaking,” he said. And neither does Manju know of her whereabouts. “All I know is that there is a pine tree forest nearby,” she said.

 

When asked about Phutti Sherpa of Dolakha and Januka Majhi of Pokhara, who had traveled with her to Syria, she had no idea where they were.

 

Ram lamented on the fact that his concern for the repatriation of his wife was not heeded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. He claimed of paying agents Sonu Rai of Jhapa, Usha of Pokhara and Dipak around Rs 100,000 in order to send Manju for foreign employment.

 

According to the Nepali embassy in Egypt which also looks after Syrian affairs, more than 400 Nepali women are working as housemaids in Damascus despite the Nepal government ban on seeking employment in Syria.

 

Meanwhile, two Nepali migrants in Syria Laxmi Gurung, 36, of Pokhara and Huma Magar, 39, of Baglung, who have been missing for over a year, are yet to be found. The consular section of the Foreign Ministry said it received a missing report of two other Nepali women, Sarita Pariyar of Udayapur and Shanti Lama of Sindhupalchok, from Syria.

 

Media reports suggest around 150,000 Syrian people have been killed in the conflict, with as many missing. An international immigrant organisation said some people might have been taking shelter in neighbouring Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel.