Migrant Workers

A Tale of Chandra Kumari Gurung [Top]

Can anyone assume that a normal, balanced person can be treated as a mad person? How that person will feel if that person kept at psychiatric hospital? It?s not a question of imagination! It?s the real story! It happened with our sister! ?Because of the carelessness of the Korean police and the state, a balanced Nepali women spent her seven years of life in psychiatric hospital with misbalanced person.

Innocent, hardly Nepali speaker Chandra Kumari Gurung of nearing 40 went Korea to work in 1992. Her life in Korea was as same as other migrant labour in Korea.

That was Sunday ?the Korean holiday, Chandra wanted to have her food near by her resident area. The food was good in restaurant. No body knows that same food could be the start date of her dark days.

It was mystery for the Nepali friends in Korea that suddenly a normal sister disappeared from them. All the efforts were worthless at that time no information about her.

Thanks for the Koran friends who succeed to come out with information and brought her in her own world after six years and four months of her disappeared.

That day a normal, balanced Nepali sister went to the cash counter to pay her food bill. Unfortunately, she lost her wallet. She checked her own body and spoke in her own native language ??Where I lost my money?. Because of the loosing money she was quite upset and even cried. She asked to excuse her. There was only fault of Chandra that she couldn?t speak in Korean language and could not make understand the Korean restaurant owner that she was in real problem. No one was there to understand her. The restaurant owner called the police and she tried to make convince the police. They tried to find some valid documents with her, which say some things about her. She didn?t have that in the same moment. Because of her own native language speaking, the police personnel thought that she is misbalanced and mad.

She was kept in the psychiatric hospital and forced her to have misbalanced medicine. A normal, balanced Nepali woman spent her life as a mad and misbalanced person.

A doctor familiar with Nepal and Nepali people met her and disclosed this miserable story of one Nepali sister. The story was publicized and created uproar in Korea.

After her release from the hospital in April 2000 Koran lawyer Suk-tae Lee helped for demanding compensation for her incarceration, and a formal apology from the South Korean State. Finally the court made verdict to pay $23,500 for the compensation. But the warm love of Korean people is with her. These friends collected some amount of money and handover to Chandra.

- Presented by Buddhi Acharya