In Pakistan, remittances from abroad radically change lives
Cash remittances from abroad help Pakistani families educate children, build up savings and improve the quality of their lives
- By IRIN, for the Guardian Development Network
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 March 2011 07.00 GMT
"The cost of the operation I needed and of the medications I am now on are paid for by the money sent home by my son in Kuwait," said Sulaiman. "Without this we could not have paid for the procedure, which has enabled me to start walking around much more rather than resting in bed." The retired bank clerk is now hoping to take on some part-time work.
"We were barely managing on an income of around 25,000 rupees [$295] a month, brought in by my younger son, especially as I was sick," Sulaiman said. "My eldest son's migration changed our fortunes and doubled our income."
The Sulaiman household is not alone. A study by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), working with the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, investigates the impact on 500 households in nine high-migration districts of remittances from Saudi Arabia.
The study, commissioned by the Pakistan government, aims to compile data on the social and economic impacts of remittances on receiving households. It found average total remittances received per household from the time the migrants went abroad were Rs1.05m, and that a large proportion of remittances were used in four areas real estate and agricultural machinery, food, marriages and savings.
"It was also found the remittances decrease child labour, help with education, health and so on," Saleem Rehmat, spokesman for the IOM in Islamabad, told IRIN.
The advantages to be gained by having a family member migrate are well established for many families. Indeed, the desperation to reach a country overseas has sometimes led to drastic measures being attempted.
In January, a man who had apparently attempted to reach Dubai after stowing away in the landing gear of a commercial plane died after falling to the ground soon after the flight took off. Tens of thousands of other people try to leave illegally each year, sometimes attempting hazardous road journeys across borders.
The IOM report recommends that, given the developmental benefits of remittances, the cost of migration needs to be reduced by improving the recruitment system and clamping down on exploitative practices by middlemen. Such middlemen play an important role in people's lives in districts such as Gujranwala in Punjab province, an area from where migration is high, according to the IOM study.
"I have paid an agent Rs150,000 to arrange for me to get to Europe. Let's hope I can go soon," said Munir Ahmed*, 22. He hopes the money he plans to send home can help pay for the marriages of his sisters, aged 20 and 18. "It is a real concern for us. We do not know where we will find the money to pay for the weddings," said Ahmed.
The remittances sent from abroad have helped families educate children, build up savings and improve the quality of lives. "Money that comes in to households from overseas makes a huge difference to the quality of life people lead. Better schooling and higher education becomes possible. People have been able to build up savings and move into better housing. We have seen this happen right before our eyes," Raja Amjad Gul, president of the Young Ittehad organisation, which works for community welfare in the town of Kharian in the high-migration Gujrat district of Punjab, told IRIN.
According to the ministry of labour, there are 4.5 million migrants from Pakistan in various countries. The money they send home has changed the lives of millions, and enabled families to climb the economic ladder above subsistence level to a situation where money in bank accounts offers them more options and new opportunities.
*(http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-de...pakistan-remittances-from-abroad-change-lives)
