Offspring migration, lonely parents

Shihab Sarkar | Published: July 03, 2023 20:42:40

In the days of the early 1990s, villages in many Bangladesh districts began seeing distinctive changes in their look. Humble dwellings gave the look of affluence; lifestyle of people living there and their day-to-day activities spoke of contentment. The scenarios of these radical changes were prompted by a single turn of events --- the migration of a family member to a Gulf country and his/her sending of remittances. Many of them had to sell off their landed properties and take loans to pay for the necessary requirements, including different fees and air fares. All these expenses started paying off in a short time. It meant the unskilled migrant workers began sending money home. Thus the process of having the taste of freedom from poverty began in earnest. It has been continuing for over three decades, despite unforeseen hindrances.
A total of 1.2 million Bangladeshi workers left the country between 1990 and 1995 to work abroad. The outbound migration increased to almost 3 million in 2005-2010. Though concentrated on the Gulf countries in the beginning, the Bangladeshi migrant workers later dispersed to Singapore and Malaysia. Saudi Arabia became the top destination for the Bangladeshi migrants in 2022. Malaysia is still in the race. Of late, the resurgence in manpower export from Bangladesh prompts the necessity of making an overview of the sector.
It's true the impacts of the remittances of migrant workers on their family members' psychology vary. In spite of the economic wellbeing of a whole family, the elderly family members are mostly found suffering from anxieties and loneliness. Many of them find themselves going down the dark abyss of insecurity. A recent study on the social cost of migration of their young offspring brings to the fore a lot of related issues. An event titled 'Social Cost of Migration on Left-behind Elderlies and Siblings' was held in the city on June 25. Findings of the study were prepared and published by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU). The study findings touched upon in the main the traumas undergone by the elderly parents of the migrants. The study says it's the parents who make major contributions to the facilitating of their offspring's migration --- both international and internal. According to the study, parents also serve as collateral for the migration loans. As the study finds, some 56 per cent of the elderly members of the international migrant households and 46 per cent of internal migrant households suffer from acute anxiety and insecurity thanks to their children's migration. The stark reality is it's the economically buffeted households which opt for sending their children abroad or domestic job destinations as migrant workers. As a result, both segments of parents go through the bouts of loneliness.
It's an irony that instead of receiving care at home, the parents of the migrant workers have to play the role of care-givers. The study also observes that more than 60 per cent of the elderly enjoy better food, housing and social status; and more than 70 per cent enjoy better medical treatment. Using mobile phones was a pipedream for many parents of the migrants, leave alone smart-phones. Nowadays, 81 per cent of the parents of international migrants use mobile phone, and 65 per cent use both mobile phone and IMQ. It is a clear sign of uplift in their social position. The siblings of the migrants remain a vital factor. It has been proved that the siblings left behind at home also contributed to the whole migration project. However, this extension of help is not without fallout. A major share of the social cost of migration goes to the siblings. It appears in the form of apathy towards work. It has been detected in 7 per cent of the international migrant sending households.
The survey finds that 30 per cent of the migrants' siblings believe that their curricular activities are suffering losses as they have to shoulder many domestic responsibilities. They interpret that it happens due to the absence of their migrant brothers or sisters. Female siblings emerge as the worse sufferers. At one stage they identify their personal insecurity in the absence of their migrant siblings.
In the cases of their siblings' neighbourhood influence and the superior position they enjoyed before going abroad, the female siblings discover themselves as being left in the lurch. Except their own siblings staying back, few come up by extending their sincere support. Against the backdrop of the country's social condition, eve-teasing and, finally, sending unacceptable marriage proposals for under-age girls remain a panic for the migrants' parental families. The elderly family heads find themselves too weak to cope with these murky developments. In the meantime, both marriageable and teenage girls discover themselves to be helpless and veritably orphaned. The wiser segments of people in the rural society may come forward to stand by the panic-stricken girls, their parents and the siblings. Thanks to the muscle power of the wayward youths, the girls' protectors back out in most cases.
Despite being international migrants earning much more than they could ever think, the migrants have to remain engrossed in anxieties for their household members. There are also highly positive sides of the international migration of a family member. They come in the forms of the siblings' better education, medical care, employment generation, access to modern gadgets etc. Unfortunately, the family heads are fated to remain passive, sad and worried for their migrant offspring.
shihabskr@ymail.com