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radioPaul Calvert spoke with Tarya Sonivita
About 30,000 Thai workers have moved to Israel to support families back home and carve out a better life. On encountering exploitation and sometimes imprisonment, people like Tarya Sonivita, a Finnish Pastor, work tirelessly to help ease their suffering. Paul Calvert chatted with her to find out more about her work.
Paul: Why do Thai people come to Israel?
Tarya: They come here in order to work to support their families back in Thailand. They work mainly in agriculture and can come here for 5 years and then they have to go back home.
Paul: Is there poverty in Thailand?
Tarya: The areas of the North East of Thailand where these people come from, they are very poor people.
Paul: You are originally from Finland, can you speak Thai yourself?
Tarya: Yes, without knowing the language it's impossible to work with them as they don't know English or Hebrew.
Paul: Is it an easy language to learn and how did you get to learn it?
Tarya: I was in Thailand for more than 10 years working in the Lutheran Church.
Paul: Are they treated unfairly by employers? When they don't understand Hebrew does it make it worse?
Tarya: They have lots of problems with human rights. They don't get paid according to the law. They get very low salary and their living conditions are very bad. Sometimes they are not taken to the doctor when they are sick; sometimes they try to deal with the sicknesses themselves and sometimes they don't tell their employer because they are afraid of what will happen to them that they will be sent back to Thailand by force, but this is not the law.
Paul: Do they come to Israel seeking a better life and wanting to send money to their family back at home?
Tarya: These men who come to Israel come from the poorest areas of Thailand and there is very little to do in Thailand to get money. They are farmers, so they get food from their own fields, but in order to educate the children they need to have money and working abroad is the only way that they think that they can do it.
Paul: Do many Thai workers come here in desperation thinking they can make a lot of money, but in reality they get exploited?
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it's a lie because i knew thai people and i've asked them would you like to go home they told me no and their boss is very kind to them and he buy them food and whatever they need and they have a home builded for them besides it's better than their home at thailand and they're very good people and if they're not treated well you can't judge the whole country but judge the boss :)