Five Kenyan men who left the country for Malaysia in pursuit of greener pastures are now requesting assistance to come back.
In a video depicting their current living circumstances, the five—Sospeter Ngahu from Bungoma, Charles Macharia from Nairobi, Geoffrey Maina from Kiambu, Dickson Otieno from Kisumu, and David Nyamanga from Kisumu—were seen living beneath the stairs of an abandoned warehouse.
They said in a video that a Kenyan agent had lured them to Malaysia with promises of a better life.
Once inside the nation, the Kenyan agent sold them to Annand, a Malaysian agent, who then delivered them to a shipping firm.
The men, who appear to be talking to a Malaysian man, appear frustrated when the man asks them to leave the warehouse home.
“We don’t have money for transport to go from here to the bus station. The auntie did not pay us our money. You allowed us to work this month knowing what you were going to do to us,” one man told the Malaysian man.
The men claim to have worked for five months without pay, and upon asking for their salaries, they were kicked out.
They are now calling on the Kenyan government to help them get back home.
“All we would like to ask for is help. We have tried all we could to no avail; we have spoken to the Kenyan Embassy, who are now asking for money. We don’t have money; as we’ve shown you, we are struggling,” they said.
The men also said they sent an email to the United Nations asking for help to no avail.