Stable Income vs A Distant Family - Interviews in Kurumenveli

On Wednesday we continued interviewing parents of OST pre-school children as part of the OST Communities and Livelihoods study. The questions have a socio-economic focus as we attempt to understand what daily life is like for families connected with OST. Example questions are: Talk me through your daily routine, what is your total household income and how many beds do you have in your home? Each interview typically lasts between 10-15 mins. On this occasion we were based in Kurumenveli, a village that has been connected with OST for many years.

The more and more interviews we do (currently 91), it is really interesting to see how each OST community appears to have its own unique feel and mood. It became apparent during our interviews in Kurumenveli that there is a very tangible feeling of absence amongst families in the community.

Despite the majority of interviewees having stable incomes, more so than other OST pre-school locations, these stable incomes are enabled through husbands working overseas. 

From a gardener in Qatar, to a driver in Saudi Arabia, to a manager of a corner shop in Manchester. Family life seems stable but distant in Kurumenveli. By far the highest percentage of families with husbands working abroad throughout our interviews so far.

It made us reflect on what seems a very real family dilemma in communities where OST operates. The absence of local stable employment attracts some to the lure of a stable salary abroad. And the cost for a stable salary abroad? See your family once every two years.

One interviewee in Kurumenveli spoke of how her husband was working in construction in Qatar. We couldn’t help but think of the horror stories emerging from the construction of World Cup stadia in Qatar that is reliant on exploitable foreign labour from developing countries such as Sri Lanka, and wondered whether this was the ‘construction’ job her husband was working on.

This is the dilemma. Household incomes in Kurumenveli were on average one of the highest of all pre-school locations interviewed so far. The majority of families have two beds. The majority of families can afford a yearly holiday. But despite relative financial security, the children of these families know their fathers only through the vibrations of a WhatsApp call.

Although financially secure, the feeling of absence, loneliness and distance left a lasting impression.