Stressed Out Punjabi Migrants Adopt
Disturbing Behavioural Tendencies - Part I
By Rajiv Kunwar
09 January, 2011
Countercurrents.org
The following write-up is based on Rajiv Kunwar's research paper titled “Undocumented migrants’ access to health care in Germany: Limitations and strategies” South Asia Institute, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
He had a nightmare about pack of wolves and sniffer dogs giving him a hard chase near the Spanish-French border. Being intuitive and haunted by the possibility of his arrest, he along with some other fellow undocumented Punjabis hoodwinked the Spanish border police and sneaked across to the French territory before crack of the dawn. By doing so, he thwarted a strong likelihood of his arrest and deportation in the following early morning massive police raid carried out on certain hideouts in that area. Such fears and nightmares have become norms in the lives of hundreds and thousands of Punjabis who enter Germany through other European Union countries. These migrants have developed unusual and unhealthy tendencies to overcome their dismal mental and psychological problems. They take to alcoholism as succour to their depression, anxiety and sleep disorders. Some find gayness as the ideal foil to man-woman relationship because of lack of contact with female members of the population, others are getting addicted to overdose of libido-enhancing pills to seek solace in sexual pleasures at the expanse of their health. These are some of the significant findings of my fieldwork research about this population for the South Asia Institute, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany.
The spectre of arrest and deportation is the most important factor causing immense mental and psychological problems for undocumented Punjabis, ninety percent of whom are of the Sikh origin from India. A qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interviews of 30 undocumented Punjabi migrants’ who have entered Germany from other EU countries clearly shows that this single largest South Asian ethnic community is trapped in the morass of severe emotional distress characterised by strong feeling of guilt and self-stigmatisation. These migrants’ prolonged confinement in unhygienic hideouts leading to their social isolation further compounds their vulnerable mental and physical well-being.
Doctors and other medical and social care givers interviewed during this research contend that a feeling of self-humiliation, combined with a traumatic past, marked by a loss of self-esteem and deepening inferiority complexes is severely damaging the mental condition these Punjabi migrants forcing them to resort to unhealthy tendencies and behaviours. “Sharam” ( “shame), “badnaami”( “stigmatisation”), “bay-izzati”( “ insult”) and “ pachchtava” ( “ regret”) were the terms used by this population during several one-to-one interviews to express their feelings about a tarnished life alienating them from their family and children.
Interestingly, contrary to the general impression that these migrants from the Indian state of Punjab may have come to Germany due to security reasons, almost every migrant admitted to have entered Germany primarily for job, money or for the purpose of establishing a relationship with someone in order to obtain a legal status. Also, these migrants accepted that they entered Germany after spending a fair amount of time with a life of illegality in some other countries of the EU or former Soviet Union states. Henceforth, it is quite ironical that these migrants crib and complain about their dismal mental condition when they themselves have chosen a path of illegality for their materialistic needs.
While most of the migrants agreed that fear was a dominant feature of their lives, they expressed varying views regarding the origin of their poor mental condition. In the opinion of Dalbir and Sikka, the fear of being identified, unmasked and persecuted haunts them all the time, forcing them to remain invisible. Sandeep Singh, another undocumented migrant, contends that the problem of anxiety has also to do with a high level of jealousy among the housemates. He explains that every time someone from their group informs others about the possibility of finding an escape route from illegality leave alone actually finding one, others sink into depression and vexation. Almost all interviewed migrants admitted to some sort of rivalry among housemates as to who will be first to obtain a legal status. After all, this is what every undocumented migrant is aiming for.
Even the very common health problem of body pain particularly headache is mostly a result of these migrants’ vulnerable physical and psychological condition. Being away from their family and relatives and living such an incalculable life of consigned oblivion affects their body and psyche. And when the point is reached when their health needs some attention in a country like Germany where the legal system does not seem to have any prominent loopholes, inability to access medical care adds to their health woes.
A general lack of trust towards other people creates several impediments for these Punjabi migrants especially when they need medical care, something which is hardly accessible to them due to stringent German health care system. An example in this regard is that these Punjabis are overcautious when it comes to choosing a physician during the time of their illness. They want to be absolutely sure that the doctor they are going to see is either known to them through a reliable friend or is someone with a similar cultural background. They think that seeing a German doctor is an enormous risk due to fear of being identified and caught by Police. The general impression among these undocumented migrants is that the German doctors are too law-abiding and therefore they are under some kind of obligation to inform the police or the Foreigners’ Registration Office about the arrival of any illegal migrant to their clinic or hospital. This is what makes these migrants too suspicious about other people in general and medical fraternity in particular.
As regards trusting a specific community of the medical fraternity, physicians, pharmacists and traditional healers of the South Asian origin are considered more approachable by these migrants because of a certain cultural and linguistic affinity. These migrants think that physicians with similar cultural background will sympathise with them and show compassion. However, interestingly there are also some Punjabi migrants who feel uncomfortable talking to physicians of their own nationality and ethnicity about venereal diseases and alcohol abuse. They have admitted that they are not used to sharing such problems with South Asian practitioners openly due to cultural conservatism. One reason to avoid seeing doctors of one’s own nationality or cultural background is shame and embarrassment in facing such doctors due to the stigma associated with these migrants’ illegal status. The preference of Russian doctors in this case, however, is noteworthy. Physicians of Russian origin are also very popular among South Asian undocumented migrants particularly Punjabis. This could be attributed to the fact that the majority of these South Asians enter the European Union after spending a fair amount of time in Russia. Familiarity with Russian doctors and their language helps them enjoy a certain comfort level. So, this tug of war between trust and suspicion takes a heavy toll of these migrants for most part of their life of illegality and they are sometimes left with their instincts alone to help them in such complex situations.
Yet another example which can be cited here with regard to these migrants encountering a constant conflict between suspicion and trust is that they do not even trust people they are sharing a room with, and prefer to remain tight-lipped about their plans and personal matters. 25-year-old Sukhi reveals that there have been a few instances when people from within the same group secretly informed the police about a specific hideout or an individual working illegally at a certain place which caused a serious trouble for many of them. According to him, such things happen due to continuous frustration and despondency.
Even the problems of alcoholism and sleep disorders among this population are also a result of vulnerable psychological condition this population is faced with. It is worth mentioning here that approximately 85 to 90 percent of these Punjabi migrants belong to Sikhism, wherein drinking is clearly considered against the spirit and tenet of Sikhism. However, most of the migrants especially the young ones are addicted to drinking hoping that it helps them fight depression and sleep disorders. Unfortunately, this perception goes the other way round and, as confirmed by some doctors during this study, this misconception leads these Punjabi migrants to deeper depression. In fact, a young Punjabi undocumented migrant Sikka reveals that alcohol abuse has been a major trigger of abdominal pain among lot of his housemates as a result of which some of them even suffer from recurring abdominal pain. He discloses that one of his friends, who often complained of body pain especially in the abdominal area, was recently diagnosed with a liver infection. Although Sikka´s friend managed to get some treatment for his liver infection, his life eventually could not be saved as his condition needed regular and prolonged medical attention, which was not possible because of lack of access to medical care options.
The study has also brought to the fore a very disturbing trend among these Punjabis. Plagued by depression, anxiety and prolonged isolation for several months and even years is forcing some migrants to resort to ‘laundebaazi’ (a term these Punjabis use for gayness).Though claiming to have refrained from homosexuality, Dara, an undocumented migrant of the Pathan community in Pakistan, gives away details of the practice of gayness among his housemates that includes Indian Punjabis as well. Gayness, he tries to explain, is seen as an ideal foil to man-woman sex especially when the latter is more risk-prone due to the migrants’ restricted mobility. However, he clarifies, gayness works for those who find it a feasible option by choice and not by force. With homosexuality having ceased to be a social taboo in European society, some of his South Asian housemates are also fast coming to terms with this practice. Medical care givers in Germany are of the view that this new tendency vis-à-vis sexual behaviours of these Punjabi migrants is not a disease. However, they strongly believe that such behaviours are an outcome of prolonged and forced sexual abstinence in their life of illegality.
In case of the undocumented migrants who manage to have some contact with female members of the population due to proximity of their hideout, their mental condition does not augur too well either. A lot of young migrants between 20 to 25 years are fast getting used to the excessive use of certain cheap quality libido-enhancing Viagra pills. Initially sold as anti-depression pills under code names like Sardard ki Goli (headache pills), Murga Chhaap Pathaka (a popular brand name for fireworks and crackers in India) and Pink City (the city of Jaipur from where originally the supplier of such pills hailed from), these local versions of Viagra arriving from India are playing havoc on the minds and bodies of these young migrants. Most of these young migrants fail to resist the temptation of using these pills in order to achieve what they describe as “total mazaa” ( “complete fun”) vis-à-vis ecstatic sexual pleasures. However, some of these migrants have already undergone a life-threatening phase of their illness due to overdose of these pills which could not have been avoided due to their lack of access to health care options and facilities.
Although the German Government does not officially allow these undocumented migrants to work, it is an open secret that this population contributes as a large workforce in the reinforcement of the national economy. Yes, it is true these migrants are forced to accept the lowest rung job on the occupation ladder which is essentially what a German social worker describes as 3D jobs ( dirty, dangerous and degrading), lack of proper medical care for them seems inhumane and unethical from socio-economic perspective. The government should not toy with the idea of keeping these undocumented migrants devoid of adequate health care privileges any further because otherwise the spread of contagious diseases through this population will sooner or later jeopardise the health of the host population.
P.S. Names of all the migrants in the above article have been changed due to interviewees’ request.
Rajiv Kunwar is an Independent researcher and freelance journalist based in Germany. He can be reached at [email protected].
Second part of this article will follow shortly.
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