DOHA, Qatar, Nov 27 – If you throw a stone randomly on a street in Doha, there’s a 90pc chance that it will hit a Kenyan. Not that they have come to the gulf state to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but they have been drawn into the Qatari capital for jobs created by the bloom expected during this period.
From the metro stations, to guards at malls, attendants at different shops and even vendors at different stations, Kenyans have taken maximum advantage of this window of opportunity to hunt for a better pay day especially with the state of affairs back home.
Most of the Kenyans Capital Sports spoke to said they were drawn into the diaspora workforce as they offered better perks from what they had been getting from home, and wasn’t a hard decision.
“I have been here for a month. I have a three month contract to work at the World Cup job. It has been great so far and I am thankful. Working in Qatar and also being part of the World Cup experience is great,” Marcos Amani, who has come all the way from Kakamega said.
Amani works at the newly constructed Metro Stadion in Lusail, at the heart of Doha and he says if given a chance, he would wish to extend his working stay to enable him fend a better living for his family.
At the Lusail Mall, a huge number of Kenyans work at various stores and in the security and cleaning companies as well.
Evans Alwande, from Busia County is in Doha working for one of the security firms, though he has been handed a two-year contract that spans beyond the World Cup.
“I came here a month ago and so far so good. It was difficult of course at the start but now I have been used to it. The conditions are really okay and I can’t complain. It feels really great to be working and getting the World Cup experience,” said Alwande.
“To be honest it is better than being back home and the working conditions and how we are being treated is very good.”
Another employee in a different capacity at the Mall disclosed to Capital Sports just how lucrative the offer to come to Qatar was for him.
“I used to work in Rongai at a Hardware Shop, earning Sh700 per day. Here, I earn a monthly salary equivalent to Sh52,000 working as security. They have given us a place to stay, though it is just like a hostel and we are picked to and from work everyday. For sure, this is an opportunity that I wouldn’t have thought twice about,” Mwangi, not his real name, says.
He adds; “Back home, I would make like Sh20,000 at home and then I would have to deduct rent, transport, food and you find that at the end of the month you have nothing. Here, I can save most of this cash because I don’t pay rent or use transport.”
Most of the employees working in different locations across the city were drafted in by employment agencies.
