By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 28th September 2006
THE Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) has pledged to take care of a 10-year-old boy who is stranded in Bahrain without his parents. Raja Thanee Prasad, who was abandoned by his Sri Lankan mother when he was two, was left to fend for himself when his Indian father was deported six weeks ago. He was born out of wedlock and was never officially registered, meaning he had no identity papers and was not allowed to leave the country.
An Indian friend of his father, Abdul Razzaq, 42, is currently taking care of the boy in Manama, but does not have the means to look after him.
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 28th September 2006
THE Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) has pledged to take care of a 10-year-old boy who is stranded in Bahrain without his parents. Raja Thanee Prasad, who was abandoned by his Sri Lankan mother when he was two, was left to fend for himself when his Indian father was deported six weeks ago. He was born out of wedlock and was never officially registered, meaning he had no identity papers and was not allowed to leave the country.
An Indian friend of his father, Abdul Razzaq, 42, is currently taking care of the boy in Manama, but does not have the means to look after him.
However, volunteers from the organisation have stepped in to provide financial support and assist with efforts to reunite him with his father.
MWPS general secretary Mehru Vesuvala last night told the GDN the society would do everything it could to help the boy.
“We have agreed to take care of the needs of the boy,” she said.
“We have pledged to take care of the upkeep of the child for three months and we will review it after that because we cannot do this indefinitely.”
The society is committed to paying BD50 a month towards the living expenses of the boy, who was born in Bahrain and has never travelled abroad, and will also assist in applying for a passport on his behalf.
The decision to intervene was taken following a meeting with Mr Razzaq at the organisation’s premises in Adliya.
“Because he was born out of wedlock, which is not recognised in this country, his parents never applied for a birth certificate,” Ms Vesuvala said.
Raja’s father, a laundry worker who had lived in Bahrain for 16 years, comes from Hardoy in Uttar Pradesh.
He is understood to be planning to return to Bahrain to claim his child after being sent home by his sponsor. His passport has expired and is awaiting for a replacement to be issued.
The boy’s mother Rajamuni Dewayalage, a housemaid, lived in Bahrain for around four years. But she has not been in contact with her son since leaving him behind and, returning to Sri Lanka. It is understood she has remarried.
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