Dylan Bettencourt
Thousands of migrant workers have worked tirelessly for the last decade to build the beautiful Fifa World Cup facilities in Qatar while living in appalling conditions.
When Qatar controversially succeeded in their bid to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010, the country needed to build all eight stadiums for the event, requiring a huge workforce.
The majority of the staff are migrants who came to Qatar in search of work – but after a long day of working in extreme heat and humidity, they go home to unlivable conditions.
They are crammed into small, old and poorly maintained cabins with bunk beds where three or four workers, sometimes five or six, share a room. All this at a farm belonging to their boss, Al Sulaiteen Agricultural and Industrial Complex (SAIC), The Guardian reported.
All of the cabins were found without windows and were extremely dirty with towels placed between the top and bottom bunk beds to give people some sort of privacy.
There is no room for storage which means the workers have to stuff their water bottles, cooking utensils and personal items under the beds.
Their clothes also hang on a string that dangles from wall to wall across the room.
Workers employed for World Cup duties are meant to enjoy better working conditions in line with Qatar’s “workers welfare standards” but several employees claimed that has not been the case.
Workers from Bangladesh, Nepal and India said they had to pay illegal fees to agents in order to secure their jobs.
“I paid 300,000 Bangladeshi Taka,” one worker said, which is the equivalent of nearly R54,000.
“Some pay a little more, some a little less, but everyone pays.”
Despite numerous reports and examples of poor working conditions in Qatar that have cost thousands of people their lives, both Fifa and World Cup organisers continue to claim the tournament has been a catalyst for transformation for low-wage workers.
Image source: @TheGuardian
