A son who went missing for more than two decades is back in the loving arms of his mother thanks to the tenacity of a newly-formed expatriate society in Bahrain and the kindness of an embassy team and immigration officials.
Social workers in Bahrain have revealed details of a ‘complex case’ involving a vulnerable undocumented Indian worker who lived anonymously under the radar and suffering from mental illness.
Vellaisamy Suresh, from Tamil Nadu in India, lived rough and survived doing odd jobs in the country. However, the real twist to the story came when he finally built up the courage to approach Non-Resident Tamil Indian Association (NRTIA) members for assistance in June last year.
“This case was a huge challenge for us because here we had a stranded, undocumented expat who did not exist according to government records yet had been living in the country for 22 years,” explained NRTIA president Mohammed Malim.
Mr Suresh was 20 when he arrived in Bahrain in 2000 to work as a labourer with a construction company but absconded after a few months following ‘an episode at work’.
“Suresh could not remember the name of the company and did not carry a passport or a CPR which made things very difficult for us because he was completely off the radar,” explained Mr Malim.
“He absconded from his labour camp a few months after joining the company due to a dispute with his colleagues as he feared they were out to kill him.
“If you look at him he looks healthy enough as he does not smoke or drink, but his mental frame of mind makes it difficult for him to cope. Unfortunately, many people have taken advantage of his situation over the years and employed him as cheap labour to carry out odd jobs.”
Mr Malim came up with the novel idea of showing him company logos of leading companies and the initiative helped spark a long lost memory.
“Once we established the construction company, we got in touch with them and attended several meetings with their management who were kind enough to rustle up old records from their archives and finally found the documentation, including a passport and CPR,” he said.
During his ‘missing years’, Mr Suresh’s 80-year-old mother Ranjitham desperately appealed for information, contacted Tamil Nadu authorities to no avail, and even posted a short video seeking help to find her only son.
The determined NRTIA made its move. “The next task in front of us was to create an identity for Suresh through his mother’s official documents with the help of Commissionerate of Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non Resident Tamils in India,” said Mr Malim.
Commissioner Jassintha Lasarus, in particular, ‘went that extra mile to help in the case’, the researchers said.
As a result, the Indian Embassy in Bahrain issued an emergency travel document that allowed Mr Suresh to leave the country. That left a potentially costly pending issue, namely accumulated fines for overstaying his welcome.
“The immigration authorities were kind and waived the fines, but insisted that an entry document from when he first had arrived in Bahrain be produced. Fortunately we had it to hand.”
The story from being a ‘no man to a new man’ took nine months and Mr Suresh, now 42, finally left Bahrain on April 5 and has been reunited with his mother in Chennai.
“We are glad that this case was resolved and would like to thank the Indian Embassy and the immigration authorities for their co-operation,” said Mr Malim.
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
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