WORLD CUP FEVER : IS THE HYPE WORTH THE TRAGEDY?

After 4 long years of anticipation, finally the best season of football has arrived. The flags of qualified teams are hoisted and greeted  with a warm welcome. New shops are opened and people from different parts of the world started to develop businesses in Qatar to bring home the bacon.  A new venue has been confirmed where the football matches will be played and billions of dollars are spent on stadiums and decorating the whole city. People are spending money like water on jerseys and footballs, the hype is real and people are excited but there is always a dark side to all these fun and games.

Workers from several countries migrated 4 years beforehand to help in building these stadiums across all over the city in search of better quality of life and higher wages but they have no clue on what their fate awaits. Workers were promised with safe working environment and even excused with living expenses instead they faced overtime work with low-pay wages and recent economic drawbacks like world economy inflation left them with no mercy. Remittance to their loved ones back in their home countries were low and workers barely managed to make ends meet. The worse part of the this whole tragedy is that the families of the workers not only received there hard earned money but also their dead bodies.

Deaths in workplace started to report from the very first of year of construction. The reason is not the workers were experienced but the harsh weather and lethal workplaces  made it very difficult to get their daily job done. Specifically speaking, the weather of Qatar gets very humid and hot on summers and workers are prone to dehydration and heat-strokes. Moreover, the inadequate number of specialized equipments for all workers meant that a mistake during construction could cost them their lives. The FIFA organization have denied that the report of deaths in the workplaces is far less than the sources' report. "The number of deaths do not count because the loss of one life is a huge matter", an anonymous worker.

The world cup season brings families together, streets are filled with the chanting of their favourite teams and players, during times of match there is a sense of tension among all watching the matches together and everyone burst into happiness as soon as their team scores. All of this joy is due to the sacrifices of  World Cup stadium workers who gave their lives for our enjoyment. Many lost a husband, a father, a brother but very few people acknowledge their losses. We have to appreciate the sacrifices they made and hear what they have to say because it is a part of preserving human rights. We should share their grief altogether and if humans do not listen and understand other humans then who will!