Hundreds of young people in the mountainous areas of Quang Nam Province have taken out bank loans for work broad only to return in debts for not meeting requirements.
After the husband of Jo Dech Crich in Proning Village, Tay Giang District died, their family's financial situation became untenable, as she has to take care of five children. One of her sons, Clau Hor, decided to join the labour export programme but returned just one year after arriving at Malaysia. His family then incurred debts of VND23 million.
Depressed after the disappointment, he killed himself three months later. "I don't know why he returned from Malaysia and now I don't know how I will pay such huge debts," his mother said.
Dinh Van Chenh, from Son Tay District also returned from Malaysia after just one year. According to Chenh, the actual work that was promised never materialized. He had troubles communicating, was made to do heavy labour and earned a small salary. He said, "The wage was different from what was promised. When the company went bankrupt, I had to borrow money from other workers. They let me go because they didn't have any more jobs. Now I'm trying to pay back the bank."
In 2009, the Prime Minister gave approval to a labour export project, which sent people from poor villages to work overseas. It was hoped that the project would reduce poverty in those locations. Because most of the people in remote areas were not familiar with foreign languages and were relatively unskilled, they were provided with 12 months of study.
However, the reality of learning the necessary skills was not taken into account. Jo Dot Bun, from Tay Giang District said, "When I signed the contract, it said I would have to study a foreign language for at least three months. But I only studied for one week before the company hired me and sent me to Malaysia."
Jo Dot Bun
The director of the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in Quang Ngai Province admitted to some shortcomings in the programme. Most of the workers are considered unskilled, he said. He explained that this is the reason many are sent back to Vietnam.
But Abing Poi did not understand why he was sent back. He said, "I only took Sundays off and they still fired me. Someone called and told me that they would pick me up in Hanoi. Nobdy picked me up. It made me feel bad."
Giang Tay District has 115 exported labourers with 39 having come back while 25 out of 100 labourers to Malaysia have been sent back to Son Tay District. Many of these workers have sunk into deeper depression poverty. The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies in Quang Nam Province said their amount of bad debt has reached VND2 billion.
Le Hung Lam, the deputy head of the bank, said, "The cost to send a labourers abroad is high so with so little wages in return. The labourers have to account for the expenses very carefully."
