Like many Nepali youths, Shyam Bishwokarma of Hamarjung-7 in the eastern hilly district of Terhathum had a dream of earning a lucrative salary to lead a comfortable life.

To pursue his dream, the 36-year-old chose the path that many other Nepali youths have trodden before: Foreign employment.

As he started hunting for overseas jobs, he found one in Qatar through a local overseas recruitment company. But in the Gulf country, he went through a harrowing experience of climbing up the scaffold to dizzying heights and working for prolonged hours in the desert heat. Initially, he did not complain because his main objective was to save enough to return home early.

As he continued working, he, however, noticed he couldn’t earn more than Rs9,000 a month. “After covering all the expenses, I found it difficult to save even Rs3,000 a month,” Bishwokarma said. “So, even after working for four years, I could not even send more than Rs300,000 home.”

Thousands of youths like Bishwokarma leave the country every year for foreign labour destinations with the dream of making quick bucks. In the last fiscal year alone, 418,713 Nepalis left the country for various labour destinations, as the country’s jobs market, which is growing at a sluggish pace, could not absorb them.

But many of these youths earn just enough to pay off the loan they had obtained to get placements in overseas companies.

Bishwokarma, for instance, had borrowed around Rs80,000 from landlords to reach Qatar. But the interest on the loan was so high, he ended up paying double the principal amount to settle the debt. “Now I feel I spent four of my precious years on something that was not worthwhile,” said Bishwokarma.

This is the problem that many unskilled Nepali labourers face abroad. “If you are unskilled, foreign employment is not something you should opt for,” said Dhuran Ram of Dadha-2, Saptari, who returned from Malaysia a few months ago. “Looking at the way some of the Nepalis are suffering in Malaysia, I wonder why they choose to leave the country.”

Sagar Sah, another youth of Dadha-2, who also returned from Malaysia recently, has something similar to say. Sah, who was given assurance of good job and a handsome salary, was stranded in Malaysian airport for around 24 hours after his employer failed to pick him up from the airport. “I was then taken to an apartment, where I had to share a room with 25 other people,” he said.

Thus, began his troubling days. “I only knew how to plant rice seedlings and nothing much,” said Sah.

Yet the manpower agents pledged him a lucrative job. “But once I reached Malaysia I wasn’t given the job I was pledged. So, I returned back home a year later,” said Sah, who regrets going abroad without acquiring some skills. Bishwokarma, who returned from Qatar, also has similar regrets.

But he is now happy as he has acquired skills to make khukuris and other agricultural tools. “I now earn around Rs30,000 a month here and even provide employment to three other youths,” Bishwokarma said.