Marooned In The UAE

Marooned in the United Arab Emirates - Eric Chris Sapaula

Ten years ago, my brother, Eric Chris Sapaula, was a talented, creative, and enthusiastic fashion illustrator living and working in Davao City, Philippines while at the same time aspired for a breakthrough in his career by moving to a city known as a haven for haute couture and a fashion artist’s mecca--Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

After moving to Dubai and working for a number of employers over a number of years, Eric encountered challenging times. One of his employers reneged on their agreement about Eric’s wages and in fact held on to his passport and would not surrender it to him. Eric’s legal efforts to claim his past remuneration and passport have been futile.

Our aging mother is worried sick about his welfare while being so far away from family. Eric is currently marooned in the UAE. He is unable to work because he has no legal work status because it has expired, and unable to travel from the UAE to the Philippines because he has no passport and no means to settle his financial obligations in the UAE.

Through the difficult times as he faced mounting fines and interest charges for having obligations but no salary to address them, Eric’s friends in the Filipino community in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi helped sustain him by offering him lodging.

Regarding Eric’s travel documents, luckily, through the assistance of diligent people in the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Eric was provided legal counsel by them so that he may learn what he must do to lift himself out of his predicament and finally be repatriated to the Philippines. However, before he can be repatriated, he must settle all his outstanding financial obligations that he incurred while trying to obtain his back pay and passport so he can leave the country.
 
This fund drive is for Eric’s exodus from the UAE so that he can resolve all his financial obligations as soon as possible. We appeal for charitable donations from generous souls willing to help a vegan/animal rights advocate/fashion illustrator return home after being marooned in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.

Our family is deeply thankful to all bighearted donors if our fund drive is successful and aid in reaching the necessary means to send Eric home at last. Any amount will help. To those who have already donated, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will never forget your generosity and its impact on this mission.