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While being away from their families has been a difficult task, they say the UAE’s opportunities have helped them become financially independent.
Meet Revukrishna Veni, Vijayalakshmi Manoharan, and Nakariya Resty. Employed as nannies and housekeepers in Dubai, these superwomen are toiling in a foreign country so their own families can enjoy a better future.
While being away from their families has been a difficult task, they say the UAE’s opportunities have helped them become financially independent. Their children have better access to education, and they now aspire to buy land or houses in their home countries. Khaleej Times spoke to three such inspiring women.
Revukrishna Veni, an Indian nanny and housemaid from Andhra Pradesh, recently celebrated her 49th birthday and worked nonstop for 22 years. “I stopped work in the middle for three years when I had my children. But, I’ve had employment for 22 years,” said Veni.
She arrived in the UAE nearly five years ago, leaving behind a nurse’s job in a medical facility. “I arrived here on a visit visa in search of a job. Unfortunately, my educational qualifications are not considered valid here. After a recommendation from my relative, I decided to work in a home as a nanny,” said Veni.
Mum to two kids, a daughter who studies in Grade 12 and a son in Grade 10, Veni has been working hard in the UAE to ensure that her kids have access to quality education. “They study in state-run schools. My son wants to join a polytechnic course, and my daughter wants to become an air hostess. I want to ensure that all their dreams come true… I want to send them to college,” said Veni. Her husband works as a plating and gilding technician in Mumbai. He has been unemployed for a year due to the pandemic.
“After working for 25 years, all my earnings went into running family expenses. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a house in Andhra Pradesh. It’s a two-bedroom apartment,” she said. “I don’t have any big dreams… I want to ensure that my children do well, and they go to college,” she added.
Like Veni, 47-year-old Vijayalakshmi Manoharan, from Colombo, Sri Lanka, has been in the UAE for over six years. Before taking up work as a nanny, she was a housewife, taking care of her kids and has a passion for tailoring. “I stitch all the costumes for my daughter’s Bharatanatyam (Indian classical) dance, and I also stitch my employers’ kids’ costumes,” said Manoharan. Mom to two children, Vijayalakshmi’s daughter is 25, and her son is 22 years old.
“My daughter is studying; she teaches Bharatanatyam and works as an HR assistant in a college. My son is still studying and working part-time jobs,” she added. Her husband works in a jewellery shop in Sri Lanka. Vijayalakshmi made the tough decision to travel to the UAE in search of work to support her daughter’s educational dreams.
“My daughter wanted to study further, and college is costly in Sri Lanka. She also needed money for her arangetram, the debut on-stage performance of a former student of Indian classical dance and music. It was a big dream come true,” she added. The only way Vijayalakshmi could pay for it was to travel abroad in search of work. “Now, I want to see my daughter married as well,” she added.
A recent resident of UAE, 25-year-old Ugandan Nakariya Resty, arrived here in December 2020. “Before this, I worked in Jordan,” she told Khaleej Times. Resty decided to make the long journey away from home because she did not want to be financially dependent on anyone. “My husband runs a supermarket in Uganda. I don’t like asking him for things,” she said.
Mum to a five-year-old son, Resty, works to support her kid, her aged mother, and eventually buy a plot of land in Uganda. “I came to the UAE because it is safe here, and my boss is a very nice person, and she understands me well,” said Resty.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
Dhanusha Gokulan
Originally from India, Dhanusha Gokulan has been working as a journalist for 10 years. She has a keen interest in writing about issues that plague the common person and will never turn down a human interest story. She completed her Bachelor in Arts in Journalism, Economics and English Literature from Mangalore University in 2008. In her spare time, she dabbles with some singing/songwriting, loves travelling and Audible is her favourite mobile application. Tweet at her @wordjunkie88
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