The Grass on the other side is never Greener Part 2

The grass on the other side is never greener, is a true account of Muthali life searching for greener pasture in the UAE.

Muthali a Kenyan young woman, is promised a job as a Sales Manager in the beautiful city of Dubai. When she arrives the middle east, she is cheated.

Her passport is taken away from her and she has to endure a life of hardship. As she shares her moving experience, you'll meet some of the dubious characters who color her life in all shades. You will cry along the way but ultimately fall in love with her fierce determination to succeed at all costs.

Continued from last week.

One day at school some of my friends talked about how people were living the country and getting well-paying jobs abroad. I started making inquiries and I found an agency that could help me. So I decided to go there and find out how to make this dream a reality.
It was a small but decent looking office, the men there were Kenyans, and I felt happiness fill my heart the minute I walked in. I was finally a step closer to actualizing my dreams. I would go abroad and earn a decent living to help my family.

After an exchange of pleasantries I was directed to a smallish looking man with a round face and a big smile. There were lots of other ladies and men there, each coming in and out and dropping what looked like copies of their curriculum vitae.
The man gave me a seat and I asked him in Swahili, "Can you help me, I have been told that you employ people to go abroad and work?" The man smiled a very big smile and told me he would help me. I remember what he said word for word . "There are different sorts of jobs from sales to marketing, all the jobs are decent.” He asked me if I had any qualifications. I proudly told him I had a Diploma in Business Administration and he smiled again. He told me I would fit nicely in one of the many sales departments. “There is a lot of demand for people like you over there, did you bring your C.V?" In my excitement, I had forgotten to take it with me so I promised him, I would bring it the next day.

It was after three months that I received a call telling me that I had been offered a job. I was overjoyed. Immediately I called my mother who was at one of her local women’s group meetings. She rushed home eagerly to celebrate my first step to success.
The very next day, I got out of bed and excitedly raced to the office, the man shook me warmly and offered me his congratulations.
After a brief chat, I asked him, “What kind of job would I be doing sir?” The man smiled, and it seemed to me that he was always smiling. I thought his constant smiling was a bit odd, but I dismissed it.

He said to me, “Well, you will start as a waitress.” A rush of disappointment filled my head, but he assured me I would make a lot of money from it, besides after six months I would change jobs to whatever else I wanted. It sounded a bit confusing to me but anything decent sounded better than nothing at all.
I went home a little scared. The next day I called him and told him my fears, he assured me that I was not going to be alone and he would always be there with me and all the other successful applicants monitoring our progress. I felt better since I knew that I would not be all alone in a strange land and I began to make preparations to say goodbye to Kenya and hunger, just hello to a new exciting life.

That night, as I lay down to sleep on the cold floor I called my bed, I tried not to think about the disappointment of not getting the sales executive job as I had been promised, but I convinced myself that it was better than staying in Kenya where there were no jobs. I reassured myself that I would be so nice to customers that they would feel obliged to give me tips, and because the agent said he would always be with me and the others, following us and monitoring our progress, my fears slowly disappeared.
I drifted to sleep, a very nice sleep. I dreamt I was in Dubai working in a very expensive restaurant, I was wearing a very smart uniform and looked very pretty, I had a tiny pink apartment with a little pink and white bathroom and toilet, and a small living room with pink and grey fluffy pillows, my apartment overlooked the green sea, and I had a very good life. I even had a very good looking boyfriend in my dream.

I woke up feeling better than I ever had. My heart was filled with so much longing and excitement and I just could not wait to leave Kenya.
After my chores at home the following day, I went back to the agent to submit my CV, he greeted me very warmly and gave me a break down of what I had to pay for the airfare and visa. The sum was quite hefty, I didn’t have any money but I was determined to raise it even if it meant begging on the streets. On my way back home, I sang a Christian tune in my heart and began to pray for a generous helping hand, for someone to come to my rescue and bless me with the hefty sum.
My mother’s face dropped when I told her about the sum of money we had to pay, but she quickly hugged me and said she would get the money for me. She went to take a loan that we both knew would take her years to pay. She borrowed from friends and sold some of our meagre possessions, my heart wept for her generosity and love, and I vowed to return the kindness immediately I began to earn some money. That was the thing about my mother, she was and has always been a selfless woman and mother. She would go through any extent just to make sure we were happy and even though times were hard, my mother would sacrifice her all for us. She showed us what being a mother was all about, through her constant love and care and prayers for us, she put us first, even before herself and tried her best to ensure we were happy. That was my mother, a rare gem.

It took her about six months to raise the money and week after week she would tell me, “Muthali we are almost there, we are getting money little by little and its almost complete,then she would hug me or tickle me, and I would just melt under her love.
Eventually we got the money together, and arranged everything. My father was proud of us and he begged me to always remember to be upright and not do anything that would cause my mother any pain.

On the day that I was to leave, my mother got some snacks for me even after I told her not to bother, and as we waved goodbye to one and another, we both wept tears of joy and I promised my mother I would be a good girl, and work very hard to make sure we had a better life. She hugged me even more and wiped my tears. She told me to achieve success for myself not for the family.
At the airport, I met the agent and some other girls, and he assured us, he would join us sometime later. We were disappointed because he had said he would be travelling with us and help us to settle down. He assured us not to worry and would be with us soonest. The other girls and I quickly got acquainted and we all boarded the Air Arabia airline that we had paid for. It was the cheapest airline, but we really didn’t care as long as we got to our destination in one piece.

The first shocker came, when for the long eight hours we were on the plane, we were not given any food or any drink, later I found out that this was because of the cheap ticket the agent had bought us, so for eight hours we had nothing to eat or drink except for the few snacks my mother had earlier got me. I was so thankful for that.
We got to Dubai, early in the morning at about three or four am and very eagerly, we climbed out of the plane and went through immigration. We were instantly taken by how beautiful the airport was. I was beginning to almost jump out of my skin in excitement. I began to imagine just how beautiful the city would also be, and how I was so lucky to be finally there.  I felt so blessed to already have a job and a new life. My heart was filled with so much joy that tears slid down my cheeks.

After a while, I began to feel hungry and I realized that hours had passed by and whoever was to meet us at the airport had not showed up, at least not yet. The other girls and I began to get worried. Luckily we located a pay phone and quickly contacted our agent back in Kenya. After what seemed like eternity, a man came, identified himself and picked us up.
As we left the airport to go with him, he demanded for our passports without any explanation, just a cold and rough order that frightened us. We quickly handed it over to him, one of the girls was courageous and she protested. He looked confused and asked us harshly in very bad English “You buy your ticket or visa yourself? You no buy the ticket, Sponsor buy. Me keep passport so you no run away”
 I was dazed. Of course we paid for the ticket and visa ourselves. It was very expensive, and we all began to speak at the same time. “Yes we did, we bought and paid for everything ourselves!” We all tried to explain at the same time but he shook his head, and snatched our passports. He did however try to explain that we must have been deceived and it was the company’s policy. He told us not to worry that our boss would explain better to us.  He made for the car, and like robots we quickly followed him.
To be continued next week. 

Published weekly on Thursdays.