‘I dream of a small house in town so my son does not have to walk so far to school’
Jomy Joseph dreams of building a house near a school so his son does not have to walk for more than an hour to attend class, as he did as a child.
Seven years after he moved to the UAE, he has bought land and is now saving to build a home.
“I have a dream of a small house in town that is close to a hospital and school, so my son will not spend too much time walking and will have time to study instead,” Mr Joseph says.
He is among the Indian migrant workers featured in Father’s Day Project by Waleed Shah and Nikith Nath.
A host of Mr Joseph’s relatives pack into the photograph in front of a mud-tiled ancestral home atop a steep hill, near a village in the Kottayam district.
Surrounded by leafy greenery, his parents and wife – carrying his son, 1 – smile into the camera.
Mr Joseph has fond memories of growing up in the 100-year-old house made almost entirely of wood. But he also remembers walking for more than an hour to attend school and then boarding a bus for 90 minutes to reach a technical college.
On a recent night, it took more than an hour for an ambulance to reach his home when his father needed to be taken to hospital.
“I have good memories of my great-grandfather’s house because we grew up there,” Mr Joseph says. “But I’m working in Abu Dhabi because I need to build a new house in town so my father and mother can reach hospital easily. I save money, otherwise I will not get my dream.”
Mr Joseph began work in the UAE in the electrical and plumbing sections of a building maintenance company, but he now oversees the site.
Receiving his family photograph in Abu Dhabi stirred bitter-sweet memories. He was thrilled to have a memento, but the house in the backdrop
was a reminder of his obligations.
“It felt very good to see everyone but then I saw the place behind and I felt tension,” Mr Joseph says. “I remembered it has taken me so long to give my father, mother and wife a new house. But I will work and get this house I dream of.”
The photography project forms a backdrop to understanding why migrants travel overseas to fulfil ambitions for their loved ones by earning higher wages. Visiting the families in Kerala was an eye opener for Nath, an Indian national.
“It was only when we went to his house that I understood why Jomy had that dream,” he says. “In terms of emergency or even amenities there is nothing near by.
“Even with a bike, access is difficult because the hill is steep. When you reach the foothills there is no grocery store, so it would take another 20 minutes to get to the town for the hospital or to buy milk or water. Seeing it first-hand, I understood.”
Seeing first-hand how far people had to travel to get to a shop or hospital helped Mr Nath understand migrants’ decisions