There has been something of a mass exodus taking place in the country for a long while now; thousands of Nepalis continue to flock to foreign lands in search of employment opportunities on a daily basis. While the remittance sent back by these workers has certainly fuelled our economy, it has been accompanied by reports that paint a nightmarish picture of the lives they live overseas, terrible stories of abuse and exploitation, exhaustion and death. One instance was the recent story by The Guardian’s Pete Pattison regarding the many Nepali labourers who had perished in Qatar, “at a rate of almost one a day” this past summer.

While the deaths in themselves are already tragic enough in revealing the distressing conditions these Nepalis are subjected—with little help made available from authorities on either sides—there is also the question of what happens to the families, the children they leave behind and the sort of futures they have to look forward to. It was that very question that Community Members Interested (COMMITTED) Nepal, a non-profit organisation focused on education, sought to get people to ask and answer through a charity concert—organised in collaboration with We Fear Silence (WFS) and Capital Grill—in Basantapur on Saturday.

The open-air gig featured the reggae group Joint Family Internationale, popular rock outfit Albatross, as well as two international acts—American rapper Kellee Maize and the winner of MTV Roots and India’s Got Talent, Feyago from India—all of whom played individual sets as well as jamming together for a number of songs. The most-young audience at Basantapur were naturally enthralled to see such amazing acts on the same stage. The musical performances were punctuated by speeches on the part of Dorje Gurung—education programme director at COMMITTED, who was once jailed in Qatar for “insulting Islam” but eventually freed when the arrest was internationally condemned—and family members of workers who had passed away overseas, among others, offering several sobering and thought-provoking moments.

Funds from the concert, according to Ashmita Khanal, communication officer at COMMITTED Nepal, will go to support the education of the children whose parents or siblings have died while working overseas as labourers. The event is part of a list of efforts—including fundraising dinners at the Capital Grill and Hotel Radisson—that the organisation has undertaken in recent weeks for the same cause.

“We can’t say we can single-handedly end the plight of Nepali workers overseas, but at least we’ve made a positive first step at addressing the dark reality of our own countrymen being sold into slavery,” Khanal said.

COMMITTED can be contacted at www.cminepal.org