Indian woman in UAE helping over 2,000 stranded compatriots amid COVID-19 pandemic
Dubai: An Indian lawyer in the UAE is helping over 2,000 stranded and jobless blue-collar compatriots with free legal paperwork to facilitate their return back home, according to a media report on Saturday.
Sheela Thomas, 41, has opened 2,200 files of distressed Indians hailing from states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help them for their return to India, the Gulf News reported.
Their paper-work needs to be sorted. Many of their visas have expired,passports still stuck with employers who are not releasing them for some reason or the other. I am taking care of all this work, she was quoted as saying in the report.
Thomas, who has been residing in the UAE for the last 25 years, is doing all this work on a pro bono basis, it said. Though originally from Kerala, she was born and brought up in Hyderabad.
(Photo source: gulfnews.com)
My mobile has turned viral. I am continuously receiving calls for help from stranded Indians and I don't have the heart to say no, she said.
Explaining her work, Thomas said she tries to understand the workers' situation, talks to their employers to release their documents and passports so they can travel home, gets the paper-work in place and keeps it ready for their travel when enough flights are available.
"This land has given me so much. It is time to give back to the UAE and its people. These men are the people of UAE and they need help now, Thomas said in the report.
She also feeds 300 people from her kitchen at home, the report said.
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At least 11 killed, dozens injured in Israeli strikes in Beirut as diplomats push for cease-fire
Beirut (Lebanon), Nov 23: Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 11 people and injured dozens in central Beirut, officials said, as diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency responders dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, it said, adding that 63 people were wounded. The strikes were the fourth in the Lebanese capital in less than a week.
The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region this week in an attempt to broker a cease-fire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has erupted into full-on war in the past two months.
Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in fighting in Lebanon.
Israel's war with Hamas also shows no signs of abating. Gaza's health ministry said at least 80 people were killed between Thursday and Friday in multiple strikes in the enclave's north, including the Kamal Adwan and Al-Ahli hospitals. Dozens of people are still trapped under the rubble, it said.
