“She recognised us when we went to see her. She stretched out her hand towards us,” her sister Mazeda Begum told The Daily Star.
Lilufa Begum returned to Bangladesh on November 11 after spending 32 years abroad, arriving back in her home country unable to remember how to contact her relatives.
The 53-year-old landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport suffering from severe physical and health problems. The expatriates’ welfare desk handed her over to BRAC immediately upon arrival.
Lilufa originally left Sahrail village in Manikganj’s Singair upazila in 1994 to find work. Her decades away ultimately dissolved into isolation, mental illness, and imprisonment overseas.
Bahrain police found her wandering the streets in a mentally unstable condition. Authorities imprisoned her for lacking valid documents before issuing a travel pass for her repatriation.
Mazeda said that her sister initially worked as a house help in Bahrain for around four years. The middleman who arranged that migration took her earnings, leaving her unable to send money home.
Her younger brother eventually travelled to Bahrain and located her. Lilufa stayed with him and began sending Tk 5,000 or Tk 10,000 whenever she could so that their parents could manage their expenses.
She returned home on leave around 16 years ago before going back to Bahrain. Her mental health began deteriorating around four to five years ago.
Mazeda last spoke to her sister around two months ago over their brother’s phone. “She never married. She has no husband or children. Our parents are no longer alive. She has no savings, no money, nothing. She is completely helpless,” Mazeda said.
An ambulance was used by BRAC personnel to move Lilufa to their Uttara learning centre, providing her with housing, personal care, proper clothing, and necessary provisions.
Following multiple conversations with Lilufa because she had difficulty sharing family details, BRAC personnel finally figured out that her origins were in Singair.
Afterwards, workers at the Manikganj Migration and Reintegration Support Centre operated by BRAC located her sisters Shamsunnahar and Mazeda Begum, who wept uncontrollably upon reuniting with her following a long separation.
Upon learning from the sisters, Shariful Hasan, who serves as the associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme, said that he reached out to Mahfuzur Rahman, the first secretary (labour) at the Bangladesh embassy located in Bahrain.
He said that officials at the embassy verified that officers in Bahrain had detained Lilufa after discovering her roaming the roads without legal paperwork.
Shariful further mentioned that before organizing her return, the embassy had reached out to her brother residing in Bahrain, but he refused to take charge of her.
“We have handed Lilufa over to her family. We want to ensure that she receives proper treatment and explore how we can continue supporting her,” he said.
“Her parents are no longer alive, and all her siblings are married. She cannot even communicate normally now. She is suffering both physically and mentally. It is extremely unfortunate,” he said.
“People returning from abroad in poor health, distress, or without contact with their families should have access to proper treatment, care, and rehabilitation. The state and all of us have a responsibility to stand beside them,” he said.
