DUBAI // A friendly voice in a familiar language is all it takes for a caller to pour out his woes, be they financial, work related or marital.
Consultants speak more than eight Indian languages at a free counselling centre and 24-hour helpline run by the Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC), part of the Indian missions to the UAE.
Some callers are crying for help, others seeking advice from the eight staff members. They are given information and guidance or transferred to supervisors and professional counsellors.
“We try and instil the hope factor and have trained staff to let people know that some solution is possible because many of them have just run out of luck,” said Anish Choudhury, a senior manager at the call centre.
“Sometimes people who call do cry but we know that we cannot get involved in their grief. We cannot control the cause of their problem but what we can do is suggest a solution.”
Opened in 2010 to mark the visit of then Indian president Pratibha Patil, the centre moved four months ago from Bur Dubai to Jumeirah Lakes Towers, placing it close to workers in Jebel Ali, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
The number of one-on-one sessions with counsellors has since doubled to eight a day. Calls have increased from 50 a day last year to more than 70 now.
People call the toll-free number 800 46342 (800-INDIA) from all over UAE for legal, financial and psychological counselling.
This week, a worried businessman visited the centre with a folder filled with documents and pictures of a family he tried to help.
Jeya, 37, gave the family a loan of Dh5,000 after they were badly hit in the 2008 financial crisis.
But his good deed backfired when he agreed to deposit his passport at the Sharjah Court as a guarantee that they would not flee the UAE before settling their debt.
“Mine is a terrible case because after three months they absconded and I can’t find them,” he said.
Jeya sought the centre’s help because he could not finish the process for his young daughter’s passport in India without his original passport. Staff at the centre told him other original documents such as an Indian driving licence would be considered.
“I can’t travel anywhere. I could not go to India for my grandmother’s death last year or my brother’s marriage last month,” Jeya said.
“For months I have been running around. Lawyers said they would charge Dh5,000 to give me an idea or Dh20,000 in fees. I cannot afford it.”
Advice to handle such issues and to restructure loans, are among the counselling offered.
“It is comforting for them to speak to us in their language,” said legal consultant Bedadutta Nag. “We have to be motivational and help them understand that things can be sorted out.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae