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Story of a camel jockey

Titu's nightmarish experience

By Nazmul Ashraf and Ehsanul Haq
For Tltu. professional life started at the ace of seven. Not at his own village but thou sands of miles away from home in a desert rtf' Dubai, as a camel Jockey.
Titu was smuggled away from the lap of his mother when he was hardly six. In Dubai. Tltu soon learnt to hold the rein of a racing camel and compete in the race. One day. during a race, he fell from a camel and sustained serious injuries.
After being treated at a hospital he was declared useless as a jockey and then sent back to the place where he came from — Shahidnagar, Narayanganj to reunite with his poor family
T used to get frightened when the camels ran very fast. They trained me for hours together on the camel back." Tltu, now visibly showing signs of physical and mental sickness tried to explain. "I can still hear the whistling sound of wind passing through my ears as the camel raced on a long distance." he said.
There were many children like me and I was put under the custody of a woman I was instructed to call her mother. People with large white robes used to give me good food but I fell very sick when one day I fell from the back of a camel during a race."
Tltu bore marks of serious injuries on his head and legs as he was stampeded by the huge
desert ship. Tltu. the only child of his rickshawpuller father had lost his mother when he was even younger. His grandmother used to look after him The family lived in a slum at Shahidnagar. a remote impoverished suburban part of Narayanganj.
Tltu hardly remembers what
had happened after his fall during the race two months ago
Titu's grandmother. Masuda Begum, said after the death of Titu s mother. It was very dlffi cult for the family to raise a child of one year "His father was pulling rickshaw and 1 was working as a maid So he was
left alone and without much care".
When Tltu was about seven, a woman named Shonai Bibi proposed to her to let Tltu go to Dubai. The woman assured her a good job’ and regular remittance for the family
"Everyone knew Shonai Bibi in the area. She had taken many children to Dubai. So we immediately accepted her offer." Masuda said alleging that in the eleven months when Tltu was in Dubai, the family did not receive a single penny
"A month ago. a young man brought Tltu back, left him near the house and disappeared Tltu now behaves abnormally most of the time and keeps laughing without any reason whatsoever.' Masuda said
The entire Shahidnagar area under Narayanganj municipality. is a cluster of slums and run-down dwellings inhibited by about seven thousand people The area is virtually devoid of almost all civic amenities
The population comprise mostly garment workers, rick-shawpullers. beggars, and day-labourers. According to various sources in the area, an international gang of child traffickers take advantage of the impoverished situation there and smug Kout scores of children regu
ly
Like Tltu, Sagar and Suman, each aged eight, also returned home from Mumbai. India. recently as the middlemen failed to send them to Dubai for unknown reasons. Their stories could not be gathered immediately. Among others smuggled from the area, Manna also eight, is in Dubai for the last 16 months. Her mother. Nazma said she had so far received Taka 3.725 from Shonai Bibi who did not disclose what Manna was doing abroad.
MoyeZuddin is yet another victim who was also brought back home from Mumbai. His mother. Kutibanu said Shonai Bibi took her son four months ago to send him to Dubai, promising her to pay Taka 2,000 a month. "Four days back, my son was returned to me saying he could not be sent", Kutibanu told The Daily Star yesterday.
Street beggar Chandra Banu does not know anything about his 1 O-year-old son Monir Hossain who was taken a year ago to be sent to Dubai. "I was given only Tk 500 at the time my son was taken but not a single penny afterwards. Banu lamented. 'Your son is well", was the only response from Bibi." she said.
Police qrrested Shonai Bibi on September 11 after rickshawpuller Shahar All sued her for trafficking his nine-year-old son, Sohel. Shonai Bibi, who is now in Narayanganj jail, admitted to police that she sent Sohel to Dobai with the help of her close relatives, living in the UAE. Police also arrested three of Bibi's associates.