26(2010), pp.

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Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability:
A case study Nepalese Workers in Korea
Thakur Subedi*, Jung Young-Tae**
The paper examines how complex nature of working environment and lack of religious facilities affect Nepalese workers from practicing their religion in Ansan, South Korea. We observed factors such as food, housing, co-workers and boss, migrant centers etc., associated to working environment in order to assess the impact on their religion. We conducted an in?depth interview of 20 Nepalese individuals in the study Migrant Center area. Our findings suggest Nepalese immigrants, mainly from the Hindu community, are flexible in their religion when it comes to adaptability in a foreign country, and thus are well?accustomed in a new environment. Towards the end, we hand out few policy recommendations based on their experience and assumptions, which we believe upon implementation, might enhance their religious life in Korea.

Key Words: Nepalese workers, Hindu, Religious Facilities, Religious Practice, Working environment,

I. Intoduction
Everyone has the right to conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.1) The above stated quotation seems to have been left in the state of oblivion amid the nonstop flow of labor migration in Korea. Koreas astonishing economic growth and extensive demands for foreign labors from the small and medium sized industries during 1990s opened the flood gate for many immigrants. As these immigrants represent different countries, they possess diverse religious background too. Lack of access to justice for foreign workers, who have suffered abuses, and constraints on the mobility of migrant workers and trainees are enough to indicate that these workers in
* Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Inha University (tpsubedi@live.com) ** Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Inha University(ytjung@inha.ac.kr) 1) Liam Gearon, Human Rights & Religion: A reader (Sussex: Brighton and Portland. 2002), pp. 44.

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South Korea are not well protected against human rights violations.2) Stories regarding Human Rights violation of immigrants are often seen covering the newspaper headlines in Korea. However, despite its sensitiveness, people hardly consider the seriousness of violation of such religious rights. As Korea is a secular state with majority of people are aligned to nonreligious groups, several instances of religion violations are passed unnoticed or without triggering a concern. Once turned, attention is paid only to the gross human rights rather than its religious aspects. This may be the reason that immigrants religious rights in Korea has been of less concern until today as the Korean government does not seem to have taken any stern measures towards it. Being a liberal and a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human rights (UDHR), the country needs to avoid the discrimination on the basis of religion, race, color, sex, language etc.3) When we look at Smiths argument, we find the process of immigration or landing in another country itself is a theologizing experience as religion provides an ethical viewpoint and the resources that foster the immigrants viewpoint and with which the immigrants can react to the confusion and alienation result from their relocating.
4)

From this perspective, religion not only offers an important individual

insight and psychological comfort to the immigrants but also it plays an important institutional role, providing an anchorage for people undergoing the process of immigration in a foreign land5). Similarly, in an American society, Herberg perceived religion as an essential set of identity and association capable of building unities and identities, and through which immigrants could find a place in new life6). Thus, it wont be wrong to say that religious institutions provide a way to observe and understand immigrants life more generally as well as the place of immigrants in the host society. However, these researchers do not go beyond the realm of such religious institutions and ethical viewpoints. Majority of them, instead of pointing out the problems and reasons that
2) Amnesty International, South Korea, Migrant workers are also human beings, Report (2006), p.15 at <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA25/007/2006> (searched date: 9 October 2010). 3) Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), Article 2 at < http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ index.shtml> (Searched date: 28 December 2009). 4) Timothy L. Smith, Religion and Ethnicity in America, American Historical Review, 83(1978), pp. 11551185. 5) Philip Gleason, Immigration, Religion, and Intergroup Relations: Historical Perspectives on the American Experience, in Donald L. Horowitz and Grard Noiriel ed., Immigrants in Two Democracies: French and American Experience, (New York: New York University Press, 1992) pp. 167187. 6) Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay on American Religious Sociology (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1960, 2nd Ed).

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 231

negatively affect the daily religious practices among the immigrants, only pay attentions on the role of religious organizations such as how religious institutions can change or improve their lives. Therefore, a strong need for a research on how and to what extent these immigrants surroundings and activities associated with working environment and lack of religious facilities affect the immigrants daily religious practices. In Ansan city, few cases of religious dilemma7) among Nepalese immigrants could be noticed due to unfavorable environment in the workplaces. Few of these immigrants seem to be wondering about their religious identity. The Hindu religion dominated cultures and traditions are no more to celebrate. They are involuntarily celebrating Christmas, which they never did back in Nepal. Coming out of a strong Hindu background and living in a country where majority of people are nonreligious would definitely affect the daily pattern of religious practices. As there exists not a single study of this kind, discussion with them gave us the idea for this research to carry out. Hence, to get to the bottom of our curiosity, we decided to raise few research questions such as, how do these Nepalese workers sustain their religious life in Korea? How do the working environment and other external factors affect their religion? Do they find themselves in a state of religious dilemma? Which are the factors that affect their religion the most? How much effort do they put on to sustain their religion? Prominent researchers like Levitt has already realized the importance of religious places with regard to institutional ties with their home communities that provide another ground for immigrants to remain connected to their homelands.
8)

Thus, we

paid attention on external factors such as their networking and activities as well as available religious facilities in the vicinity. As there lacked research on the impact of internal factors related to working environment such as food, accommodation, working hours, discrimination at working place, etc., we examined those factors to sort out the impact on their daily religious life. We also inspected the impact while visiting migrant centers on their religion as these organizations are generally associated with Christianity in Korea. For our purpose, we conducted an indepth interview between November 15 and December 15 in 2009 in various locations around Ansan. As for the interview, we
7) Religious dilemma, in this paper, refers to a state of feeling when individuals doubt if they are following their religion properly or not. 8) Peggy Levitt, Locallevel global religion: The case of U.S.Dominican migration, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37 (1998), pp. 7489.

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used Nepali language. Ansan was selected for the research partly because this city has been considered as a major hub, where around 33,290 foreigners live.9) The sampling includes 20 individuals out of 263 Nepalese immigrants living in the study area. These workers varied in age, religion, working places, visa status and duration of their stay in Korea. The interviewed places include Nepali Restaurants in Ansan and companies in Banwal and Shihung industrial area, where majority of Nepalese are believed to be residing. Secondary information sources comprise of Ansan City Hall, Ansan Migrant Centres, Government Websites, newspaper articles etc. The Key Informants for primary information include Nepalese male workers, Ansan Migrant Centre Pastor, Pastor Yong IL Choi, former secretary General of Ansan Migrant Centre, and few City Hall Employs, who contributed for informal discussion. Several impact indicators include, length of stay, status, working environment, spending holidays, living and working environment, practicing religion, food, visiting migrants shelters, social networking, etc. Once the data were collected, we analyzed them descriptively to examine the impact of working environment and religious facilities on their religion. The samples exclusively cover lowskilled Nepali workers living in Ansan area regardless of their visa types. As the feeling of religious dilemma differs from individuals to individual, the result of this work cannot be generalized to other characters and groups even from the similar community. Also, since Nepal is known as a Hindu Kingdom and 90 percent of our samples belong to Hindu community, the research emphasizes much on the Hindu aspects compare to the 10% Muslim samples. Therefore, unlike indepth study on Hindus, only a surface level study on the Muslim workers has been conducted to screen the basic differences between the two. More to this, the participants are very small; and since the time and place factors along with religious facilities and working environment vary from region to region, the prediction of this work cannot be universalized in the entire Korean context. In the absence of existing literature, the work falls a short of expectation in general theory testing, however the surveyed data and followed up analysis is enough to justify its potentiality in addressing several hidden issues with regard to Nepalese workers religious facets in Korea. As we covered only few basic factors mentioned above, the result might missmatch if new independent variables are added or existing variables are subtracted. However, regardless of few limitations, this work is
9) Ansan City, Foreigner Registration Sheet, (Ansan: Ansan City, September 2008), p. 1.

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 233

expected to serve as a baseline and fill the underlying gap in the field of immigrants religious concerns in Korea. The introduction part outlines the background, where several important research questions have been discussed; the second part depicts a brief situational analysis of Nepali immigrants in Korea justifying the significance of the research. The third chapter covers the data analysis part and answers to our research questions on how working environment and lack of religious facilities affect the religious life of these Nepalese immigrants in Korea. Finally, the concluding chapter interprets the outcomes and conclusion with few policy recommendations to follow.

. Religious Sustainability of Nepalese Workers in Korea

Nepalese Immigrants in Korea Nepal is among one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of about US$ 470 and where 24.7% of the population falling below the poverty line. Agriculture is the backbone of national economy providing a livelihood for threefourths of the population accounting for about onethird of GDP. More than 76% of the population depends on agriculture. About 6% people are engaged in industry related occupation where as 18% are surviving by means of service sectors.10) Because of the lack of industries and service sectors, unemployment rate in Nepal is very high. Poverty and absence of opportunity back home pushed 202,794 people abroad for work in 2009 (Fiscal Year 2065/2066) up from 171,244 during the same period in 200811). The existing data, 1.35 migrants/1,000 populations retrieved in 2010,12) is enough to justify that people want to leave the country at any cost as there are only rare opportunities. The largest number heads for India and gulf countries for work as the former does not require a Visa, while the latter is easier and less costly. The other major destinations include Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Dubai, Japan, South Korea, etc.
10) Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal (2009), at <http://www.cbs.gov.np/statis_2009_content.html> (sear ched date: 12 October 2010). 11) Republica, 18.5 pc rise in Nepali Workers Leaving for Jobs Abroad, Republica (18 April 2010), at <http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=17630> (searched date: 28 December 2010). 12) The World Fact book, CIA, at <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworldfactbook/geos/n p.html> (searched date: 24 December 2009).

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Although there lacks real source about the actual date of Nepalese arrival in Korea, it is believed that the flow started after 1988 Seoul Olympic when Korea formally opened its door to foreign workers. Lack of opportunity at home and better prospects of life abroad pushed many individuals in to this country. It is supposed that many Nepalese travelled earlier here on temporary visa; got the opportunity to work and make money, which stopped them from going back. We noticed one of our respondents, a 39 year old man (Case 17), who entered Korea in the year 2000 on a tourist visa, sharing his past feelings, I visited Korea in 2000 and found a job with a very good salary, thus I did not return to Nepal. (Ma ghumna ayeko thiye, yeha kam garne manchhe ko khacho rahechha, paisa pani nikai ramro thiyo tesaile ma Nepal nafarkikana yetai base). Later, the Korean governments initiative to assist small and medium sized industries suffering from labor shortages and expensive labor costs for 3D jobs (Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult) created an environment that allowed the already entered foreigners to stay here longer. It was only after the Asian crisis in 1997, the government realized the burden of these people and started to regulate the flux of migrants, thus to avoid illegal migration and fulfill the demand for bluecollar job numbers, Korea finally introduced Trainee System in 1994. Under this system, Nepalese workers entered the country at a large scale. To some extent, it slowed down after the adaptation of Employment Permit System (EPS) in 2003. Today, the number of Nepalese in Korea is estimated about 6,150,13) among them 263 people are believed to be working in Ansan and its vicinity14). Why Religion in Korean Context? Korea is a long standing home ground for Confucianism. Today it is dominated by nonreligious groups (46.5%) followed by strong Christianity (29.3%), Buddhists (22.8%) and rest of people make a few.15) However, major group of foreign workers, particularly coming from countries like, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. have different religious backgrounds like Hindu, Islam, Buddhism etc. Therefore, sometimes, these people not only find it difficult to adjust in a new atmosphere, but also occasionally small conflicts turn up. Due to the working place environment and surroundings, these migrants (mainly Hindu and Muslim) are de13) Ministry of Justice Korea, 2008, at <http://www.moj.go.kr> (searched date: 24 December 2009). 14) Ansan City, Foreigner Registration Sheet, (Ansan: Ansan City, September 2008), p. 2. 15) Korea Statistics Information System, Statistics Korea(2008), at <http://kosis.nso.go.kr:7001/ups/chapte rRetrieve.jsp?pubcode=MA&seq=292&pub=3> (searched date: 16 February 2010).

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 235

prived of practicing their religious rituals. More to this, due to the religious differences with the foreigners as well as Korean coworkers, and sometimes even with the boss, the immigrants find themselves in perplexed situation. Quite often Korean evangelical Christians are seen expressing hostility to Buddhism. Likewise, several incidents of burning and damage against Buddhist shrines and facilities have been witnessed, where some of the wrongdoers were identified as Christians, or left messages denouncing "idol worship".16)These sorts of heinous activities indirectly affect immigrants mind if he or she belongs to a part of such ideology. Even if they are not associated to such creed, they may be well afraid to initiate their own religious activities at their own. Hence, attention is required to avoid any sorts of conflicts in the workplace as well as in the society outside. One of our interviewee (Case 3) said, I wanted to set up a small temple like place inside my company so that I could pray every morning, however due to the fear of the others I could not do so as they would insult me and expel me out of the company. (Ma euta sano thauma mandir jasto banayera sadhai bihana puja garna chahanthe, tara aruharuko dar le malai beijjat garlan ra company bata nikalidelan bhanne darle teso garna sakena). Further, once these immigrants wish to practice their religion, it seems almost impossible as the country does not have enough facilities (such as mosques or temples). Thus, lack of religious facilities and the unfavorable environment are the major factors threatening immigrants religious rights, which is also an inseparable element from fundamental human right. On the other hand, if the immigrants are to face any job related difficulties, they have no choice but to visit Migrant Center s17). Since majority of migrants centers are run by churches (and a few by Buddhist groups), few of the immigrants, upon visiting there, face Hamlets dilemma to be or not to be as they might feel asking a favor from other religious groups (belonging to different God) similar to denouncing their own religion. Nepalese workers and their Religious Sustainability in Korea The very gist of religious sustainability lies in a persons acceptably and maintenance of his or her daily religious practices. Since religion is very sensitive in

16) Frank M Tedesco, "Questions for Buddhist and Christian cooperation in Korea," International associ ation for religious freedom (5 May 1999), at < http://www.oocities.com/~iarf/tedesco1.html> (searche d date: 29 October 2010). 17) Migrants Centers in Korea are mainly ProChristian organizations that provide legal, social and other supports to foreign workers and immigrants free of charge.

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nature and attached to ones internal identity, except in few occasions, it cannot be observed, thus the victims usually try to conceal and suppress. By birth Nepalese were stamped as Hindus until the new constitution adopted in 1992 stating Nepal a secular state. These Hindus comprise of 80.62% of the total population followed by Muslim 4.2% and Christianity 0.25.18) Even in Ansan, the above numbers approximately matches as 90% of our respondents were found to be Hindus compared to 10%, who were Muslims. Majority of these immigrants we interviewed used to practice their religion regularly when they were back in Nepal, but could not maintain the momentum after their arrival in Korea, which they believe due to the absence of favorable environment. The reasons, at first, there is not even a single Hindu temple in the area and, second the working hours and the timing of practicing the religion do not match at all, which results in the forcednegligence of the religion. As in Case 7, who used to visit nearby temple every morning for pray, back in Nepal, here he finds no such places to go, thus questions how to perform? (Ma Nepal ma chhada sadhai ghar najikai ko mandir janthe, puja garthe, tara yaha ta mandirai chhaina , kasari garne?). Generally, for a devout Hindu, the importance of early morning pray by visiting a nearby temple is something that cannot be ignored. However, once they arrive in Korea carrying Korean Dream, they are stunned. Not only the lack of communication hurts them but also they cannot roll on their religion in the new atmosphere. For example, Hindu devotees are required performing fasting on specific days such as JanmaAsthami, Ekadashi, Durga Puja19), other holy rituals etc., however as they work on these days, they are unable to maintain it. More to this, while working in the factories these people have to share rooms and canteens with diverse religious groups, which also result in inconvenience affecting their religion facets. On the other hand, lack of religious facilities such as temples (there is not even a single temple in nearby location in Ansan) around the working place and other religiously supportive institutions woes them. Apart from this, if these immigrants are to face any job related difficulties, they have to visit the nearby Migrant centers. Since there are not any Hindu related institutions (majority of migrants centers are run by churches), few workers face the state of religious dilemma while visiting these centers because it requires asking a favor from other religious groups or organization, which are associated with different gods. To several Hindu practi18) Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal (2009), op. cit. 19) On these days, a devout Hindu is supposed to do fasting the whole day to perform the praying to respective Gods.

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 237

tioners, this act makes them feel like as if though they are religiously humiliated or their religion being denounced. Thus, these kinds of obstacles make it very hard to keep up with immigrants religion in Korea. This deprivation often gives birth to a sense of fear among these workers as if they are losing their religious identity. How able are they to sustain their religion? These religious related concerns primarily occur in a situation where there is the dominance of a second religion in a society or in work place, where the newcomers live as a minority, and secondly if the required facilities are unavailable. Upon examination, it was found that majority of these immigrants felt that had there been opportunities and accessibility, they would have practiced their religion. Among the samples, 70% of the respondents, who used to practice their religion in Nepal, could not keep it up here at all, for which the major reason was the time regarding the work. On the other hand, 20% of them found to be practicing partially. The 2 Muslims (Case 4 & 19) and one Hindu (Case 3) expressed that they had really hard time in Korea in terms of practicing their religion. And interestingly, for the remaining 10%, it was unnecessary, thus they just did not care about it. Although, there appeared several reasons behind this, 20% of our samples (Case 3, 4, 7 and 19) agreed on the fact that had there been facilities, they would have practiced. From here, it is very pity to learn that 50% of the respondents have already lost their religious affinity after their arrival in Korea because the number was 70% when they were in Nepal. Hence, those 50 % individuals are in a course of losing their religious identity (Hinduism) in the long run. Length of Residency and life Satisfaction among Nepalese Immigrants Most of the Nepalese workers in Korea suddenly found their life satisfaction higher after three years of stay compared to that of in the beginning. Under the trainee system, as the law didnt allow them to stay longer than 3 years, they would become illegal20). However, the more they stayed, the better they used the language and loved Korean food and made strong social as well as worknetworks. In the beginning, their expectations were very high but the gain was low due to language barriers, food, and other assimilation related issues. But after the first year, when they started to learn and know the surroundings and could speak Korean language a little, they found their satisfaction going up. As time went by and as they become more fa20) Within the Trainee System (D3 visa) in Korea, foreign workers were only allowed to stay up to 3 years, the first year as a trainee and later two years as a worker.

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miliar to a Korean way of life, they were found paying less attention to the issues such as religion, particularly the Hindu community. This is the reason majority of illegal respondents did not have any concern with religious matters as they were found visiting not only migrant centers but also the Churches during the weekends. That was the reason, even after their visa expired, instead of going back to Nepal, they preferred staying here undocumented. For them, although the people at work look very rude, the outside world is very harmoniums.

. Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Religion

The working environment is the place, where the immigrants spend bulk of their time, and therefore it has a direct impact on their daily life patterns. Upon examination, we found that working environment had great impact on their religion too. We assumed that both external and internal factors had direct influence on their religious life. This is why; despite their willingness, these immigrants were unable to practice their religion. Workers had difficulties in maintaining their religion due to their bosses, who sometimes request their workers to visit Churches or Temples together. Because of the working nature in the companies these bosses are very strict on providing off days during especial religious occasions. Further, these immigrants were often denied from celebrating any religious activities or festivals in the company premises. Our respondent (Case 20), a 34 year old man told us that once on Sunday last year we were gathered at our company to celebrate the Dashain21) festival, we also bought a goat for the slaughtering, however some of our coworkers informed the boss and he was angry at our celebration as he asked us to leave the place at that time. We tried to make him understand but he did not listen to us. So, we had to visit other friends company (Gata sal hamiharu hamro company ma bhela bhayeraa Dashain manaune bichar gareka thiyeau, Khasi pani kinera lyayeka thiyeu tara kasaile sahu lai khabar garidiyechha, u risaudai ayera hamilai antai ja bhanyo, uslai dherai samjhayem tara manena, tesaile hami haru sathiko ma janu paryo). Apart from those, food, accommodation, coworkers related factors also contribute negatively. These various factors affecting their religion on working environment could be observed on the following basis:
21) The largest festival celebrated in Nepal, it is associated with Hindu religion, where Goddess Durga is worshipped. It is known for Victory of good over evils.

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 239

1. Internal Factors
Internal factors are the factors directly associated to the work place and working environment within the company surroundings. This includes but not limited to accommodation, meals, working time, coworkers and boss etc. Several internal factors we considered to be affecting these immigrants religious aspects are: Dormitory Sharing Mankind has witnessed several instances of conflicts while living together, especially arising due to mixups in religion. This is partly because the religious traditions and rituals are different from one religion to other. However, Korean companies, in general, neither provide single rooms nor do they separate workers on the basis of religion. If someone feels uncomfortable and wants to go out, he or she must pay for the living expenses privately in most of the instances. We found this impact totally negative in Nepalese case as these Nepalese workers had never confronted such situation and felt the roommate factor does not affect them much. Which, we believe, partly due to the reason that 80% of them were found to be living with the same country people, and with the Hindus. In case of two Muslims (Case 4 &19), who were followers of Islam, shared the room with a Pakistani, yet with the same religion. The remaining 2, who were living with Koreans, had never faced any conflict on the basis of religion. In this regard, the roommate factor doesnt seem to have any impact on their religious lives but some of them (20%) advocated for its effect and considered it might be one of the affecting factors in the workplace. Meals in Canteens (Beef and Pork) Korean foods generally include beef and pork as ingredients. But, according to Hindu religion cow is regarded as Goddess Lakshmi, thus, eating beef is similar to committing a heinous sin. At the same time, as cow is the national animal of Nepal, killing or eating cow is considered as an illegal act by law in Nepal. Similarly, Muslims are not allowed to eat pork22) as well as other meats except Halaal23). Sometimes, lack of basic knowledge about Islam religion, situation becomes tragic as Koreans are unaware that Muslims do not eat pork. In an incident, Ridzuwan, a Muslim guy, had admitted, Sometimes I am served a pork dish by Koreans who know that I am Muslim.24)
22) Qur'an 2:173: He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine 23) means lawful or legal: designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law, Sharia.

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However, to our great surprise, upon examination, we found that 70% percent of respondents, who were all Hindu believers, did not care for it. However, 15% including 2 Muslims and only one Hindu were found too much affiliated with their religion so that they prepared meal by themselves regardless of problems they faced doing so. Among the rests only a single person was conscious as he used to check the meal before eating while the remaining 10% left it to the circumstances to decide if they would have it or not. Coworkers and Boss Sometimes, the Korean bosses in the company request their employees to visit Churches or Temples accompanying with him or her. Similarly the bosses often deny them from holding any religious activities to celebrating such festivals within the company. On examining the religious impact of work place among the Nepalese workers, only one respondent (Case 1) was found to have some religious discrimination by the Boss. It was mainly the boss used to force him to visit church on Sundays to participate in the prayer. Although, he was not orthodox follower of Hindu religion, he felt very stressed, which according to him had negative outcomes in his work. Apart from him, 90% of them had never faced such situation. Majority of them were found prioritizing their work as they concentrated on making more money, thus they were less inclined to care on minor issues like this. However, there were complains about the discrimination due to languages deficiency in comparison with other coworkers, which did not have to do with religion. Working Hours Majority of companies run throughout the weekdays including Saturdays (only few companies have half day off on this day). The working hours differ from company to company, but in general, they run through 9 AM to 12 PM. Since many workers are found paid for longer hours in monthly salary on flat basis25), they work from 8:30~9 AM to until 6PM~12 PM, where they have each hour break for lunch between 12 PM ~1 PM in the afternoon and for dinner from 6 PM to7 PM in the evening. Both Hindus and Muslims require different time schemes to perform their pray,
24) Wonsup, Yoon, Muslim Community Gets New Recognition, Korea Times (May 29 2005), at <http://www.islamkorea.com/english/articlean2.html> (searched date: 28 December 2009). 25) Instead of receiving basic salary + overtime, they receive fixed salary/month for 10 to 12 hours of work.

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thus they are unlucky due to time constraints at the working places. Our study finds that except case 3 the other Hindus are not much concerned about it as the other followers used different best suited time for the pray or they just ignored it. Unlike the Hindus who pray once a day, it was very difficult for Muslims as they require praying 5 times a day.26) We found those who were seriously concerned about their religion sticking to their plan by adjusting to different times for pray, however the Muslims had a very hard time while maintaining as they required 5 pray times a day, thus they felt being depressed because of time factor. On the other hand, the major setback for them was during the Religious festivals. For a Hindu devotee, festivals such as Durga Puja, Ekadashi, Teez, Dashain, Tihar etc are very important to celebrate. Similarly for Muslims, Friday is the most important day, which is a very special day, called Jumma27). Not only on Jumma days but also during their greatest festival days such as Fitrulid, Bakr id, Muharram, Ramadan etc.28), these immigrants work throughout the year regardless of celebration. Hence, these are the days when they precisely feel being deprived of their religious rights. Thus, we can easily conclude that the working hour have negative impact on their religion as it denied them from practicing as well as celebrating their religious festivals.

2. External Factors
External factors in our research are associated with immigrants daily activities outside the company premises. In many cases, they are linked to their work but sometimes not. These include, available religion practicing places, social institutions such as migrant centers, churches, other social networks etc. Some of these factors that we found to have negative effect on these Nepalese workers religious affair are as follows: Lack of Religious Facilities Religious institutions have remained a central point in immigrants life, as re-

26) SalatulFajr: Between the first light of dawn and sunrise; SalatulZuhr: After Midday; SalatulAsr: Midafternoon; SalatulMaghrib: Sunset; and SalatulIsha: From one and a half hours after the Sunset. 27) Called SalaatulJumma Friday Prayer in place of Zhuhr Prayer and is offered in flocks. Each week on Friday, Muslims are required to take a bath, dress in their best clean clothes, use perfumes and assemble in the mosque for the Prayer. 28) Carol E. Henderson, Cultures and Customs of India, (Westport, Conn: Green wood Press, 2002), p. 153.

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flected in a recent renaissance of studies of immigrant religious communities.29) Religious institutions have been often argued as places where immigrants can find spiritual comfort as well as material support, friendship, may stand in the way of their assimilation in the host society. While studying about Polish immigrants W.I. Thomas found institutions such as the churches actually serve as the organizational vehicles that allow them to participate in it.30) Importantly, religious institutions often provide the immigrants the resources and tools, which the immigrants consider necessary for their survival in guest country. However, in Nepalese case here, they did not have such opportunities, thus not only these people felt deprived of such accessibility but also it obstructed their daily religious practices as many of our samples were found to be directly affected by it. On the other hand, it is quite pity to learn that for more than 10,000 Hindu (if we include Indians, Indonesians and few from other countries) immigrants in Korea there is not even a single Hindu Temple. For, Muslims there were only five mobile and two permanent mosques31) until 2002. Although there has been increase in the numbers now as few more mosques and prayer rooms have been established by the help of Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrant workers, they are not enough to serve such a large of around 130,000 Muslim populations32). According to the staff of Ansan Foreign Workers Center, only two Muslim institutions exist in Ansan: one Ansan Mosque and Islamic Center, and a Masjid in Wongokbon dong, near Ansan. Considering the working environment, the distance and time restraints, we assume, these devotees hardly manage to visit the available facilities. Thus, lack of Temples and limited Mosques and other related religious Centers not only seem to have negative impact but also threatening these immigrants religious rights. Our study shows 30% (Hindu 20% and Islam 10%) workers agreed on the fact that had there been facilities, they would have practiced it regularly. From this, we determined that the lack of religious facilities have great impact on religious aspects of Nepalese workers in Ansan.

29) YoungIl Kim, The Correlation between Religiosity and Assimilation of FirstGeneration Korean Immigrants in the Chicago Metropolitan Region, (Ph.D. Dissertation, Loyola University of Chicago, 1994), in Dissertation Abstracts International, 5505A (1995), p. 1388. 30) Janowitz, Morris, Thomas W.I. on Social Organization and Social Personality: Selected Papers, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966). 31) Andrey Lankov, Muslim society in Korea is developing and growing, Prauda (6 November 2002), at <http://english.pravda.ru/news/russia/06112002/121840/> (searched date: 24 December 2009). 32) "Korea's Muslims Mark Ramadan," The Chosunilbo (11 September 2008), at <http://english.chosun. com/site/data/html_dir/2008/09/11/2008091161016.html> (searched Date: 27 December 2010).

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 243

Migrant Centers Migrant centers are very popular in Korea and are considered as the helping hands to foreign workers, especially to the illegal immigrants. Apart from the two major Migrant Centers in Ansan, the City Hall is also providing similar services. In the absence of enough government initiative, majority of the immigrants visit Migrant Centers for legal issues, to learn Korean, for medical services and any other work related problems. Pastor Young IL Choi said, around 25 NonGovernment Organizations (NGO) and Migrant Centers are running in Ansan to help the foreigners. Majority of them (he said around 19) are run and supported by churches. Apart from these, there are several institutions: Ansan Migrant Center, Ansan Foreigners Center, 3 other small mosques and a Buddhist Center but no Hindu Centers. Most of these institutions are set up to help protect the foreign workers rights. Although ttheir objectives are diverse their goal aim to support and make prepare foreigners to assimilate in Korean society with the concept of making Ansan a borderless village33). The programmes run by these centres are diverse yet focus on providing shelters, organizing international festivals, organizing sports, assisting free medical services, field trips, language classes, computer classes, lawservice etc. More to this, they often campaign and lobby for the protection of human rights of the immigrants and sometimes even give policy recommendations to the government. Upon examination, we found majority (60%) of Nepalese visited there for work related issues such as salary problems, bonus problems, changing of work places, Taejikam34) etc. The second largest group constituting 15% visited for free medical services and the rest for other reasons such as meeting with friends, playing computers games or entertainment, studying Korean language etc. Looking at the facts we retrieved from these workers we found once these workers overstay, they need external supports from these institutions for any problems they face in the company. As half of our samples are staying here illegally, these people have hard time in handling any job related issues because of having limited access to the external facilities and fear of being caught while going outside. Thus, they visit these Migrant Centres and other NGO related institutions instead of City Hall. Contrary to it, the newcomers with proper visa do not often visit as they are less likely to face such prob33) Admin, Migrant Workers Support center opened in Ansan, Korea Migrants Center (15 June 2005), at <http://www.migrantok.org/english/viewtopic.php?t=324> (searched date: 14 October 2010). 34) Bonus money usually paid after the successful completion of a year work, it amounts up to a months salary.

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lems except the language barrier. Even without any specific reason these Nepalese were keen on visiting these centers for merry making and learning other skills. However, the truth is since majority of migrants centers are run by churches, these Nepalese workers might face the religious dilemma of whether to visit the center or not. To our surprise, we found nobody directly facing such threats yet a few respondents felt religiously discriminated at migrant centers. It was also very amazing to see many of these workers (except the Muslim interviewees) preferred to visit migrant centers as well as the churches during the weekends. We found almost half of our examples visited there regularly while the rest were split between nonvisitors and occasional visitors. From this, we came to learn that only 15% found to be religiously concerned upon visiting these proChristian centers. Among the rest, 65% had no effect at all whereas 10 % realized a bit concern followed by 10%, who could not or did not share any idea. This clearly shows Nepalese workers in Ansan are very flexible by nature as only a single Hindu felt negative along with the Muslims while visiting the centers. As about the nature of the institutions, 10% mentioned these institutions as bad because they considered them as hypocrites just trying to spend church money to raise the Christian numbers. Yet the mainstream of them, that is 75 percent, felt easy being there, where majorities preferred to visit on regular basis. On the other hand, it is also learnt that companions, who are in connection with Christian people attached to the centers would get the first priority while getting their jobs done due to their acquaintance with the Pastors or other church members. We found 11 instances when these Nepalese were asked to convert to Christianity by the Koreans they met in the Church and one instance by the Korean coworker. However, no migrant centers was found involved directly in such issues. In total, about 60% of these immigrants had such experiences but no one seems to be converted to Christianity. Thus, it can be concluded that visiting Migrant Centers or Churches have mixed reactions as Muslims going against while majority of Hindus enjoyed visiting there. Religious Activities and Social Networking People cant think of living outside the social boundary no matter if they live in their own country or abroad. The case of Nepalese in Ansan is no more exception. Due to workload, nature of working environment and accessibility, they hardly participate in such activities during the week days. However, the gathering mostly takes place on Saturday evenings or Sundays in nearby Restaurants and stores run

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 245

by their natives. During these days, they buy their country foods, phone cards, as well as send money to their home countries through this network called Hundi.35) The figure below displays how these Nepalese workers spend their holidays and weekends:
<Figure 1> Spending Weekends and Holidays

Source: Field Survey, 2009

We find most of these people enjoying their holidays and free time by gathering together in one place. In Nepal, almost all national festivals are associated with religion such as Dashami, Tihar, Tiz etc. Regardless of overtime work, they gather somewhere or visit someone seniors house to celebrate the festival. As Case 1 mentioned, Since no holidays are given by the company on these days, we set programs for closest Saturday or Sunday to celebrate the events together (Chad Parwa ko dinma company ma bida nadine bhayekoole hami najikko sanibar wa aaitabar jutera ramailo garchhau). To our greatest surprise, if it is not the time for festivals or celebrations, during the holidays or on weekend, majority or about 45% of the immigrants from Hindu community were found visiting churches and migrant centers, which prove their flexibility on their religious issues while adjusting in the society they live. Their motive was not to practice religion, rather it was to have fun and meet old as well as new friends. Only 15% of the respondents were visiting to their respective religious institutions in Seoul or in friends home, which include two Muslims and one Hindu (Case 3). The other 10% preferred to stay at their rooms and watch movies or take rest so that they would feel refreshed for the other days work. But the second largest group consisting of 30% found to be interested in gettogether with friends for drinking and having fun. Apart from the offline networks, there were also few instances of online net-

35) An informal value transfer system based on the honor of a network of money brokers.

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works among them through which these people used to communicate. However, the online facilities are not as popular as among the academics, diplomats, businesspersons and students yet few of our samples were found using it regularly. Most of them were using messengers and emails to communicate with their friends and relatives within and outside the country. Do they want to stay more? Migrant workers in Korea often face difficulties interrelated to their working conditions but they usually tolerate the conditions in order to keep their employment status intact.36) Despite several difficulties regardless whether it is related to working environment or related to religion, insecurity and poverty back home forces many immigrants to stay in Korea longer. Since they have no choice but to stay they are obliged to view religion only as second to the survival. The diagram below shows the mind of our samples if they want to stay here longer or not. The figure above depicts that 40% of the Nepalese workers want to continue the job and stay here compared to 30%, who are undecided. They think it as an opportunity, hence must earn money as much as possible. The rest 30% seem to be in mood to go back soon as the economic crisis was costing too much prompting the exchange rate going down. The second reason they might be caught by the immigration authorities, thus losing any future opportunity to entering Korea again.37)
<Figure 2> Continuity to job and Further Stay

Source: Field Survey, 2009

36) US Department of State, Human Rights Country Report, 2006, at <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt /2006/78778.htm> (Searched date: 21 October 2010). 37) If an illegal foreigner leaves Korea voluntarily, he or she will not be subject to restriction on re entry.

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 247

. Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendations Although we could not discover great impact of working environment on Hindus, a strong impact was observed among Muslim Nepalese immigrants. However, both these groups made us feel that their religious life in Korea would be better without making any revolutionary changes in the current system. The first and foremost we perceived was they should be provided pray time and place. A small consideration on working hours either by the company owners or managers could make it possible easily. Here, Migrant centers and related NGOs can play a significant role by working as a mediator. Second, giving cash instead of Mealcoupons (ShikFyo) seems to be a great idea. Doing this, the workers can manage their food by themselves so that they can easily avoid beef and pork. Third, as still there seen few minor instances of religious discrimination inside and outside the work place such as forceful participation in other religious ceremonies organized by company bosses or coworkers, it needs to be discouraged. Fourth, a large numbers of immigrants wished for holidays during their festivals such as for Hindu (Dashain, Tihar, Teez) and Muslims (Fakr id, Bakar id, Muharram and Ramadan) so that they could celebrate, the company owners can make it possible by providing nonpaid holidays on these days or they might be asked to work on other free days such as during the weekends. In addition to those, we found 25% of the immigrants were adhered to the impression of building few Temples, Mosques or Masjids in the vicinity not only would bring happiness to them but also promote the idea of making Ansan a Borderless Village. More to this, organizing international festivals regularly and creating an environment for diverse religious activities will definitely boost confidence among the immigrants. For Migrant centers, 45% of the samples still think they are imposing church rules indirectly, thus these organizations should be transformed in to a pure foreign helping organization. Finally, as these immigrants could practice their religion only partially due to several their efforts to enjoy their full religious rights would go in vain in the absence of support from everywhere, especially from the government, the company and the Migrant Centers. Above stated endorsements would definitely play a vital role in this regard as they represent victims own mouthpiece. Once the working environment in the company becomes favorable and more facilities to access their religious demands are met, no doubt these people will be able to practice their reli-

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gion fully while living as a foreign worker in Korea. Conclusions and Discussions There are few points that can be made regarding daily religious practices of Nepalese workers in Korea. Based on the observations in Ansan, we found working environment and lack of religious facilities have a mix result on the religious aspects of these immigrants. Only 15% of our samples found to be strongly affected, whereas the rest had little or no effect at all. For both affected numbers, the leading concern was the Korean food accounting for about 85%. Majority of them voiced against the nature of working hours and lack of religious facilities affecting their daily religious practices. Nepalese workers appear to have less concerned with the religion itself than their preference to forge social networks. Therefore, in general, for these immigrants, religion does not seem to be a powerful resource of desirable social capital as observed by Andrew Greely.
38)

Going through the observations, we witnessed no conflict while sharing the dorms with other religious groups. However, the strong orthodoxy to Islam could easily be observed as the only existing two Muslim samples were found to be staying with a Pakistani instead of their own nationality. Likewise, we found Mainstream of undocumented Hindus have positive opinions about visiting Migrant Centers contrary to the Muslims and a few others. We came to know that despite religious complexity most of the migrant workers put an effort to adjust themselves in Korea by suppressing their religious desires rather than returning back to native land. However, further study on their activities in Korea and their links to home country is required before drawing such conclusion. 60% of our respondents were undocumented and were living in Korea over a period of six years in average. Among the rest, 20% of them were holding G1 Vis a39), who also lived for similar duration. It means, 80% of the workers were well familiar to the Korean society, thus spent their life in Korea quite comfortably. During their long stay, they often needed assistance from the Migrant centers or Churches or NGOs. Thus, they did not feel any concern related to religion no matter what they ate, where they visited or lived. The remaining 20% were the one who really cared about their religion. Hence, those above observed factors might have different impact if we examine the result on the basis of their visa status (legal vs. illegal). Therefore, further research involving legally residing Hindu com38) Andrew Greeley, Coleman revisited, American Behavioral Scientist, 40 (March 1997), pp. 8794. 39) Korean Visa categorized under other reasons

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 249

munity will serve to shed more lights on the religious facets of these Nepalese workers in Korea.

Details of Interviewees
Serial No. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Sex M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M Age 31 28 29 31 26 34 30 29 28 40 30 31 30 31 37 32 39 29 31 34 Location Shihung Ansan Banwal Shihung Banwal Ansan Banwal Shihung Shihung Ansan Banwal Ansan Shihung Banwal Banwal Shihung Ansan Banwal Shihung Ansan Korea Entry Date 2003.3.10 2004.1.28 2006.9.26 2003 2004 2005.12.13 2006 2005.12 2004 2002.11 2002.11 2005 2004 2005 2004.4 2004.1.28 2000 2005 2005 2003

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Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 251

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