Final installment: Fleeing from debt
(Baonghean) - Nghe An currently has 2,750 workers employed in Angola. Faced with rampant robbery, fraud, unpaid wages, and disease, these workers from Nghe An are beginning to seek ways to leave this African country. Some have managed to return home unharmed, others have returned disabled or in coffins, and many more are unable to return due to lack of money… -->> Part 1: The scams and robberies in this hell on earth. Escaping from Angolan prison.
Escape from Angolan prison
Mr. Tran Van Hung (born in 1970), residing in Nghi Hai Ward, Cua Lo Town, previously worked as a construction worker in South Korea. Upon returning home, his income from construction work was unstable. In early 2012, he decided to pay $6,500 USD to a middleman to go to Angola to work as a construction worker. For the first three months, Mr. Hung received a salary of $1,000 USD from a Vietnamese contractor, which was transferred directly to his wife via an illegal bank. After that, the contractor repeatedly delayed payment, promising to pay him all at once the project was completed.
In August 2012, when the construction project was completed, Hung was arrested by Defa and taken to a detention center. Two other workers, Nguyen Phuc Tung (born 1991) and Nguyen Van Tung (born 1983), from Xuan Trang hamlet, Nghi Xuan commune, were also arrested. Because they lacked legal documents and a guarantor, the group of Vietnamese workers were taken to the C30 Luanda detention center, a facility for illegal immigrants. For nearly three months, the three men were held in the center, their daily diet consisting of a single steamed bun, a spoonful of cooked corn kernels (similar to chicken feed in Vietnam), and a small amount of chlorinated water. Occasionally, the camp management allowed them to make phone calls to acquaintances and back to Vietnam to arrange necessary procedures.
Upon hearing the news of their son's arrest, Mrs. Phuong (Phuc Tung's mother), Mr. Nguyen Van Luyen (Van Tung's father), and Mr. Tran Van Hung's wife and children were distraught. They borrowed money one by one, sending between 1000 and 2500 USD each to Vietnamese employers in Angola to secure their release. Just before the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Dragon, all three returned to Vietnam, pale and sickly. Currently, in addition to the debts incurred before leaving, these families still owe hundreds of millions of dong after their sons' overseas trip. Mr. Hung stated that when he was released, many other Vietnamese people were being held in the prison, waiting for their relatives to send money to bail them out. On August 13th, Mr. Luong Thao, originally from Thai Binh province and currently working in Lunda Norte, reported that police were searching and arresting people in the Lunda Norte area, and that 11 Vietnamese laborers had been detained in two days.
The escape began…
Faced with robbery, unpaid wages, harsh living conditions, illness, and deprivation, Vietnamese laborers in Angola are beginning to flee the African nation. However, not everyone is lucky enough to return safely. At the end of 2011, Chu Van Toan, residing in Hamlet 5, Hung My Commune (Hung Nguyen District), borrowed money to go to Angola to work as a construction worker through an organization in Ha Tinh Province. After a year of work, but being cheated out of wages and falling ill, Toan decided to return home in November 2012.
On November 17, 2012, when friends came for a farewell dinner as planned, he was found shot dead in a corner of his rented room. In January 2013, Le Van Tuan, residing in Hung My commune, was also shot dead in Angola after arriving in the African country three days earlier. In the first four months of 2013, many families in Hung Nguyen, Quynh Luu districts and Vinh City also received tragic news from Angola that their relatives had died of malaria before they could return home…
Mr. Tran Van Hung, who escaped from prison in Angola and returned home, confided that he doesn't expect to get his money back from the "brokers" in Vietnam or Angola. He only hopes that the story of his unfortunate trip to Africa and what he saw and heard will reach other workers who are considering going to Angola for a better life. "Unless you have close relatives or parents who are contractors or 'brokers,' Vietnamese workers going to Angola are almost certain to be cheated, cheated out of money, and constantly face risks of disease and arrest by the police. There's no place like our country; you shouldn't gamble your life in this African country anymore," Mr. Hung warned. |
Mr. Tran Van Hung (wearing a hat) hopes his story will serve as a warning to those planning to go to Angola.
In recent times, many laborers from Nghe An province have been returning home from Angola. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hao, a policy officer in Nghi Xuan commune (Nghi Loc district), incomplete statistics show that 40 laborers from the commune went to Angola, with the least amount lost being 70 million VND, and most losing between 120 and 140 million VND. Since the beginning of 2013, many young people from the commune have fled Angola; six people from the Mai Trang market area have returned home burdened with debt. Mr. Nguyen Duy Loi, head of Xuan Tan hamlet, Nghi Xuan commune, said that five people from his hamlet went to Angola, some of whom have returned home. Most recently, a family member of Mr. Nguyen Duy Tan returned with malaria and liver disease, and is currently heavily in debt. In Khoa Da hamlet, Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen district), many people have also returned after gambling with their fate and lives in Africa. In Nam Kim commune (Nam Dan district), some people have returned to Vietnam, while others are in the process of completing the necessary procedures.
Besides those who have managed to return, many are in a dilemma: unwilling to go home, yet unable to stay. Many have borrowed money from banks to pay brokers, and haven't yet sent all the money back to repay their debts, so they want to stay a few more months. Some have had their wages withheld or their passports confiscated by their employers and are trying to get them back. Nguyen Phuc Thong, from Xuan Trang hamlet, Nghi Xuan commune, has a younger brother, Nguyen Phuc Mai, currently working at a construction site in Angola. Mai occasionally calls home, asking for help finding money to send back home. "He's working so hard there, and his employer is withholding his wages. Every now and then he calls me asking me to borrow a few thousand USD to send him back. My whole family is worried sick because we don't know where to borrow that money to send," Thong confided.
This is a list of workers from Nghe An province working in Angola, provided by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dang Duong, Head of the Labor - Employment - Wages Department of the Nghe An Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, there are currently 2,750 workers from Nghe An working in Angola, mostly from Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, and Yen Thanh districts. A few years ago, going to Angola for work was truly a dream of a better life, but now workers are trying to escape this market for reasons such as the volatile labor and employment situation in the country; the decreasing number of construction projects while the number of Vietnamese and Chinese workers is too high, leading to a shortage of jobs; some Vietnamese contractors are resorting to tricks such as withholding wages, calling the police to arrest workers who are owed months' wages, causing them to be deported back to Vietnam; and the fear of robbery and disease.
In addition, Angolan authorities have recently been cracking down on illegal laborers, deporting them back to their home countries. “We have repeatedly warned people through the loudspeaker systems in wards, communes, and neighborhoods about the risks of the Angolan labor market, but many still want to change their lives, still dream of going abroad to get rich. Now, many of them are burdened with debt, some want to return but don't have enough money, and some have been left with disabilities.”
This is a truly pressing issue, as the Vietnamese government has not yet signed a labor cooperation agreement with the Angolan government. Workers who are robbed, extorted, or arrested by the police have no one to vouch for them and face deportation. Those who return home also receive no support because they were working illegally, Mr. Nguyen Dang Duong affirmed, warning that Angola is no longer the promised land for Vietnamese unskilled laborers it once was.
Over the past two days (August 7th and 8th), Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh paid an official visit to the Republic of Angola and held working sessions with the Angolan Vice President and the Ministers of Oil and Gas, Public Administration, Labor and Social Security. Besides economic and trade cooperation, the two sides are discussing the early signing of a framework agreement on cooperation between the two countries in the fields of social security, poverty reduction, labor, and vocational training. This is truly good news and a source of hope for Vietnamese workers in Angola. Once the labor agreement is signed, Vietnamese workers will no longer have to work illegally in this African country. |
Nguyen Khoa
