Stranger in the middle of nowhere
The house where we live is very remote by Dutch standards. In a way we don't have any immediate neighbors, we don't have any shops on the street corner, we even have to go to the village 5 kilometers away. In short, we live in the middle of nowhere. Nothing wrong with that, but imagine that you, as a migrant worker, find yourself in such a new situation.
You have a tough life in your home country where you have to fight to survive. Where you always have major financial problems and no prospect of the smallest improvement at all. You get the opportunity to work abroad, and desperately seize that opportunity to improve your life and contribute for your family so that they can also expect an improvement in a hopeless situation. However, it is not very good because in fact you are terrified of all the changes that are coming your way and depressed because you have been in that situation for so long.
Then the moment has come when you have finally arrived in the country where you have to work, terrified and depressed after a long journey of 18 hours. But first you have to stay in isolation in quarantine with 2 other men for 10 days. These two men know each other and you are the only stranger among them. The depression hits even harder because you are not allowed to do anything, only have to do many things! You are not allowed to interact with other people, you are not allowed to leave the house, you must stay there for 10 days. Does not speak the language, and your two housemates also speak another language together. You feel lonely, sad, depressed and don't know where to go for help.
I seriously don't know how I would feel or if I would go nuts in such a situation. But I do suspect that something like this happened last Friday with one of the migrant workers who was in quarantine in the house next to us.
One of the three men
It seems that they arrived here very early on Thursday morning after 18 hours of driving and on Friday one of the three men has gone paranoia.
Police all day long
Around 5 pm we suddenly saw 2 police cars stop in front of the house. They had been called by a man from Latvia who was afraid he would be murdered. That is quite a fear, but no further action can be taken on a pure fear. And certainly not because the various corona rules must also be considered. The Latvian man had only been in the Netherlands for a day and therefore had to stay in this house for at least 9 more days. The police could do nothing for him, assured him that nothing would happen to him, told him to stay inside and left again. After this we expected it to remain calm again. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Just 1 hour after the police left, the man knocked on our door. If my partner could call the police because he was sure he was going to be killed by the 2 men he had to stay with in the house. My partner had no choice but to call the police again and they came again to try to reassure him. The other two men also came out and the police spoke with them for a moment. According to these two men, the other man had started raving the day before and had started acting silly since they arrived in the house.
Listen to him
The Latvian man meanwhile asked if we thought he was crazy, and regardless of whether you think someone is half crazy, you're not saying that. It doesn't matter at such a time either. If it is his fear that he will be killed, then you should try to allay that fear. He needs reassurance at that point, and he wants his fears to be heard. He wants confirmation that you take him seriously and want to help him.
We've all tried to allay his fears, we've listened to his story and why he thought he was going to be murdered.
Murdered for something he didn´t do
According to his story, he would be killed because the other two men thought he was a refugee from Latvia who had done something there that he had not done. And for that they would kill him. He was sure that his life was in danger, and he was 90% sure that the other two men had no passports and that one of those other two men was wanted for crime in Germany. The police had to check their passports, he insisted. And he needed help and couldn't stay there.
It didn´t make me feel good
Now I really do not know to what extent such migrant workers are checked before they come to the Netherlands, nor to what extent they are checked once they arrive in the Netherlands. But it seems to me that there is some control because they also arrive in this house with guides, explaining to the migrant workers how the rules are here in this house. So to what extent his story could be correct… I don't know! But the fact that he was so sure about that didn't make me feel good, to be honest.
The police have spoken to those other two men, and they say they have also checked them… so I have to believe what they tell me right? The same as the Latvian man, I must also take his word for it… I cannot expect any certainty from either side. And check people myself … ?? No thanks, I am normally completely out of it.
Will it stay quiet now?
Anyway, after this second visit by the police, we expect and we hoped that peace would have returned. Unfortunately it turned out that nothing could be further from the truth because at 11 o'clock in the evening, or 11:30, I have no idea anymore… the man knocked on our window again. We started to get fed up now, but… given the situation, and the fact that such a man is all alone in a foreign country and knows no person, knows no path or way and does not know at all where he is and where to go for, this means that we have again offered our help this time. Again, called the police for the third time that day. Who came again and talked to him. He persisted in his story… but what was strange, in between these incidents, he went in with the other men. Just swap his shorts for long pants, put on different shoes, and so on a few more times. He was very firm in his claim that he was going to be murdered and if we didn't help him he would kill himself right in front of our house.
Stop it now!
That suicide threat was wrong with both me and my partner because we really did our best for him and if he was so afraid of being killed for something he would NOT have done. Then why on earth commit suicide is tantamount to pleading guilty. And right in front of our house? What do we have to do with it? What do you expect from us? We are also powerless, we cannot do more than what we do! He tied in a bit to this, but again stuck to “I need help, they´re going to kill me”. He really couldn't stay here in that house and the police had to take him to a hideout. However, that is something the police cannot and is not allowed to just like that… so even the third time the police finally arrived it was talking the same thing over and over again, and he was eventually told again that he had to go back to that house and stay there. Nothing would happen to him. The man was not comfortable, but also really did not know how to achieve anything else… and went back with the police.
Can I get some sleep please!
When the police left it was around midnight and we hoped that it would really remain quiet now. Until, there was a knock on the window again at half past one. The same story and we called the police for the fourth time that day, who came again, talked again and he was told again that they could not take him with them. That we couldn't do anything for him either and that he had to go back. He started to cry and was sure he was going to be killed. Eventually he went back… but not for long, because at 2:30 in the morning he was knocking on our window again. In the meantime we really started to get fed up.
Sleep in our house?
Now there were a few options left, OR we would send him out hard, but that doesn't suit my partner, nor me. We both believe that you should help someone who is in fear. Whether those fears are justified doesn't really matter. If he feels that fear, then that is his truth. So it was not going to be dismissed. Calling the police again was pointless… after the same thing four times, the fifth time would really have no different outcome. Get him into our house and let him sleep here? There I must say, I have drawn a line for myself. I absolutely did not want that. I don't know that man, I don't know who he is, or what he's doing. I just don't let strangers sleep in my house ...
What if his story was the truth?
And especially if there was any truth to his story. Then that would mean that if his life was in danger, he also put us in danger. He would do that anyway by knocking on our door every time, but hey… that was still outside the door. In the house, no… that really went too far for me!
In the end my partner opened a door of the car, took all the car papers out of the car and kept the key with him. And the Latvian man slept in the car.
The way to Amsterdam
When my partner went out to walk the dogs the next morning, he was still in the car and looked just as frightened as the day and night before. This time he no longer asked for the police, but wanted my partner to take him to Amsterdam. That went a bit too far for us, after all we are not responsible for him at all. It was a 31-year-old man who himself chose to enter into a contract as a labor migrant. We felt he should call his agency and they are responsible for giving him the help he needs.
And so there appears to be a big problem!
There is no help!
Because the man had called his agency, but at first they said they told him Saturday morning they could help him. After that they seemingly couldn't help him until Monday morning. Whether this is really the case? I don't know… but I do know that indeed you cannot find help anywhere in these situations. I spent an hour and a half searching the Internet myself to find an agency, or whatever I could contact so that this man could get the help he needed. And seriously, there is NOTHING! The agencies are not available in the evenings and weekends, the police cannot and are not allowed to do anything, and other agencies are not for migrant workers, and agencies that could possibly do something such as a shelter for one night, they were all full!
Finally the man asked my partner if there was a church in the village. And coincidentally we have two churches in this village, so my partner replied in the affirmative, and so the man was taken to the church in the village at his request. My partner explained to him where the bus stop is, that he could take the bus to Den Bosch and from there take the train to Amsterdam. He wanted to return to Latvia to escape his killers.
How he is now, and whether he is back in Latvia by now… I don't know. But this adventure made me think.
Migrant workers don´t have an easy life
The Netherlands is described as a very prosperous country. Migrant workers come here because they think they can have a much better life and that everything is taken care of. They already have a commitment to work before they leave their home country and housing has already been arranged before they leave. They are told that if there are problems they can always be solved on the spot… but if there are actually problems of any kind, it should not happen by chance in the evening or on the weekend. Because then suddenly there is nothing or no one left to turn to! Then they stand alone, in a foreign country, far away from all the culture, norms and values they know, they run up against a language barrier, and they also have to overcome the many prejudices that prevail against them. Because many Dutch people do not have a good word for these people.
They are brought here because they have to keep our economy running. But if they need something, no one is there for them ...
It just isn´t there!
I suspect that we have had an extreme case here, and it will not always turn out so dramatically. And I do think this man was paranoia ... But then again, I don't know those other two men either. I don't know who they are, what they do and what they don't do. If there could be any truth in the story the Latvian man told us, I really don´t think so, but I can´t tell that for sure. The fact is that the help that was needed, psychological help, emergency shelter, whatever ... the help that was needed, it was not forthcoming. It just couldn't be found, in fact… it just isn't there.
A safety net is apparently not a necessity!
We do bring people here and expect them to do everything for a while, but set up a safety net for the same people, no, apparently that is not necessary. Very disappointing, very deeply sad.