Ripped off, screwed, what to do
All the young people, it seems, are leaving Mauritius (or want to), if they can. Sweeping statement I know. That is the anecdotal evidence we hear, based on the phone calls we receive here in Australia, desperately seeking advice. But what is here for them?
A case in point. A husband and wife newly arrived in Sydney this week (trying to make a better life for their two children, who have been left behind in Mauritius with family). All their savings spent on expensive airfares and a most likely useless business management course that some exploitative “immigration/eduction” agent in Mauritius has sold them (she would rather do hairdressing, and it would be so much more practical, but if she trys to change courses now they’ll lose much of what they’ve down paid).
The agent has also told them work will be easy to get in Australia (try finding work newly arrived in a foreign country with no networks, yeah, right). The agent has set them up in a house where six people are sharing a room (one room) and being charged $150 per person a week. Together they are paying more in rent a week for a shared room than we are paying to rent a two bedroom house. The husband has been out to the country to check out agricultural work, and if he took it, would have to live in a shipping container with every other desperate immigrant currently trying to eke out an existence in this lucky country.
What to do?
Perhaps write back to the newspaper people you met in Mauritius and get them to print an article.