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[nanosecond]

In a post on Dave's EFL Cafe about University College Yanbu, Bebsi, a former teacher there, told us how incompetent, meddlesome and self-serving, the coordinator/dean of the college is. And, as the first coordinator of the English department at the university college, I would agree. Despite his shortcomings though, the UCY dean is personable and friendly and has a liking and regard for the westerners on his staff.

Contrast this with the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Yanbu Industrial College (YIC) who has always been unsympathetic to the western teachers ( "I'm going to replace all of you with Sudanese teachers.") I was at YIC for 8 years as a teacher and coordinator, and have seen the place become more and more unfriendly to westerners. During my time, there were three heads of department. The first two were fired or replaced: a Palestinian/American ("The DMD has asked me to tell him every personal detail about the teachers to use against them and I have refused to do that.") and a competent Irishman, who understood westerners because he was one.

And now there is a Libyan-born Canadian as Head of the English Department (HOD) at YIC ( "I've been told to clean up the department." i.e. get rid of westerners he doesn't like and deplete the department of its native speakers, some at YIC years before he set foot in Saudi Arabia.) The HOD replaced a 10-year-veteran of the department who actually improved the department by personally training teachers in the new electronic marking system as well as suggesting needed improvements in examinations. Contrast this with the HOD who, after 3 years, still remains ignorant of the workings of the electronic marking system and leaves that as well as the writing of exams totally to the coordinators.

So why does the HOD not get along with many of the westerners on his staff? First, living in Qadaffi's Libya with a constant diet of anti-western propaganda is going to bend your mind from the start. Next, the HOD lacks the people skills necessary for his position. As well, Saudis at YIC I have spoken with who know the HOD say that despite his having Canadian citizenship and giving his permanent residence as Ottawa, he is vehemently anti-western. Does he also find the westerners a problem for the same reason he doesn't issue any memos to the staff? Simple inadequacy and fear that his own lack of competence with the English language will be found out. In a department of high powered, professional English teachers, can a man who writes "fill up this form" really have any place in the lead. Certainly not. The HOD warmed an office chair in the administration building at YIC long enough to become on good terms with the directors. He knew nothing about the English Department In other words, he had no basis for gaining the respect of long-serving western teachers. Therefore, he formed strong alliances with the few teachers who did defer to him, mainly western Muslims who, like himself, had just arrived..

And as his relationships with the teachers who didn't respect him worsened, he began to take his revenge. During the HOD's brief headship, at a time when institutions in Saudi Arabia including YIC are crying out for native speakers, nearly 10 western teachers, extremely professional native speakers, one of them at YIC for more than 10 years, were either fired, quit or simply ran away. It takes the Royal Commission months to complete the paperwork to bring a teacher to YIC. The HOD can alienate and get rid of that teacher in a matter of minutes. Just how useful then is this man to the Royal Commission?

Two teachers, an outspoken Australian and New Zealander, who the HOD particularly abhorred, were given just days to leave the country. ( "Sorry I have to divide up the contact hours of the two teachers who "left".") When they were forced out, the HOD, now extremely paranoid of his western staff, partitioned off the room where we chatted, took out the seating and put his good friend, an American Muslim on the other side of the partition to listen and report to him what was said. You could actually see this teacher rush to the HOD's office when he overheard something particularly interesting. Spying on teachers and even students is common in Libyan universities where the HOD claims to have been a department head.

And the HOD wasn't satisfied with causing western teachers to lose their livelihood, he had to bad-mouth them behind their backs as well. He ran around the staffroom announcing that this teacher was "crazy" or that teacher needed "psychiatric help" in an effort to see which teachers supported his antics and which didn't.

On one occasion, the HOD ordered me into his office to tell me how he was going to ruthlessly break up, this "group" of westerners conspiring against him. There was, in fact, no group, only individual teachers who were not giving this proud but incompetent and inexperienced head of department the deference he felt was owed to him.

Disliked western coordinators who were skilled at writing examinations were gradually replaced by non-native speakers, who did not have the English competence to write examinations but were trusted by the HOD. Therefore, you have the ludicrous situation of a coordinator with a shaky grasp of English ordering a native speaker to write an examination, then editing that examination to include grammatically incorrect alterations. Or a similar coordinator will have a native-speaker do an examination marking key because the coordinator is not sure of the answers himself. I speak from first-hand experience here. And, HOD, it isn't possible to have a class of 28 students do a listening examination in a language laboratory with only 12 working booths no matter how proud you are of your out-of-touch examination schedule or how unwilling your newly-appointed sycophantic coordinators are to acquaint you with reality. The department has become more and more third-world and unprofessional under the HOD.

Since, the terrorist attack on Yanbu, YIC has only been able to hire one or two new non-Muslim western teacher, so its policy of not hiring western Muslim converts, especially the kind who dress in short Saudi thobes ( "If it's too long, Satan can grab hold of it and drag me down to hell.") has been waived. So if an obese British white man wants to grow a bushy red beard and prance around in Saudi national dress and doesn't mind the behind-the-back ridicule and laughs of derision from students, so be it.

However, these new teachers can be unfriendly to non-Muslim staff. And if they are reported for infractions: rudeness to fellow teachers, lateness to class, not handing in marks to inputters and coordinators, they simply label the complainant "a well-known hater of Islam and Muslims" Such labels are a rallying cry for help from other Muslims. "I am hated not because I am despicable but because I am a Muslim like you. HELP!!!" No. The simple truth that you must one day face is that you are despised for.....yourself. No matter. The bogus defense is readily accepted by the HOD if it suits his purposes and unprofessional behavior swept under the carpet.. Muslims have told me such fabrications are even used by one Muslim against another: "I am being reported by X (not because I am incompetent and unprofessional) but because I am a more devout Muslim than X."

Of late, the administration has been using office hours as a way of petty control and punishment of teachers. Teachers, who are already on 20 to 30 contact hours a week, sometimes as many as 7 straight contact hours a day, are not allowed to go home to rest. They are forced to sit in a small cubicle an extra hour each day, and are watched and spied on by the HOD and his minions to make sure they do. The cubicle, in a noisy open office, often does not contain a computer so no real work is possible. If a teacher misses an office hour, salary is deducted, a favored punishment. Resentful teachers treated thus take their revenge by teaching poorly and refusing to do any work at home, even if they were inclined to in the past. So the teacher loses and the students lose.

Two weeks before the end of semester, class attendance by students is already zero in many classes. The students just go home and don't come back except for examinations. However, there are more and more administration checkers out in the halls at the beginning of class times. Bizarrely, they are not there to see that students attend class. (there are very few students around). They are there to check whether teachers are late for class or absent. They report directly to the DMD. It is just another form of intimidation and harassment. It appears that at YIC attendance really only applies to teachers, who are handy targets for abuse and relatively powerless. They are, in fact, punished by "administrative action" because the students are not there and therefore can't be easily gotten at. Thus, the students are punished by proxy.

In the words of one Saudi Teacher: "This place sucks and won't get any better until the management is replaced or dies."

As for me, during an argument, an angry HOD finally crossed the line: he physically pushed me. I pushed back with equal force. Then the fellow exploded with a lunatic rage and had to be subdued by the photocopy man before he caused himself or someone else real harm. This easily-angered little man had pushed students and other teachers before so this was nothing new.

When the HOD first arrived in the department, he commented how peaceful it was and how nonviolent the arguments were. He said that in his last position as head of department, members of staff had come to blows. I never thought that he might be referring to himself.

The incident was never formally reported to the administration. I simply resigned. It was suggested to me that if I reported it, the HOD and one of his minions would swear that I, not he, was the first to resort to physical violence. I would be fired and lose my gratuity for my 8 years of service. Besides, on previous occasions, the DMD had treated me rudely or had refused to see me altogether. I believe the HOD never formally reported it because he would incriminate himself by doing so and leave himself open to a wider investigation of his headship. Or perhaps he did whisper into the ear of the DMD, but, as things go here in the magic kingdom, the subject of such whispering (myself) would never be consulted. So I am reporting it here.

Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1970. However, in the local press, there are numerous stories of workers being beaten and sometimes killed by their employers. Perhaps it has gotten to the point at YIC that western English teachers are thought so little of, that they can now be beaten by their masters.

Besides, I now had the impetus to leave an environment I have always found unutterably dull and boring in the extreme. The HOD adopted a policy of not talking to me. Sounds strange, doesn't it, for a head of department to be so childish as to not talk to certain teachers under his supervision? But it isn't. It just shows the complete lack of professionalism in the department. Besides certain of the HOD's friends, the Muslim converts on staff long ago had adopted a "shun the infidel" policy. And for this I am grateful because it has spared me having their beliefs rammed down my throat without my having the freedom to respond as would be possible in a free society.

And this strutting around in Saudi clothes. What is it other than a desperate attempt to gain a new identity to replace the despised old one, a disguise to fool murderous terrorists the next time they attack and to fool nervous westerners into thinking you are a terrorist. It is also an effort to gain extra status by fooling other Muslims into thinking they should watch out for such a pious muttawa-like person. What wonderful advertisements for their religion such people are!

Does my leaving matter at all to the college? I doubt it. It might matter a little to a few other teachers because their workload may increase. (The college keeps increasing English courses irregardless of how many teachers are available to teach them.) It certainly won't matter to the college administrators who see the shortage of teachers as just another chance for an all-expenses-paid recruitment trip to London, New York, Kuala Lumpur.

In fact, the more desperate they get for teachers, the more the DMD likes to give the impression the English teachers are of no value whatsoever.
The attitude of this unpleasant little man, known by two decades of teachers for his sour-faced malevolence, has always been "if they don't like my rules, they can go to hell." His contact with the teachers in the department amounts to a public relations visit every two years when he swiftly moves from cubicle to cubicle pumping the hands of shocked teachers. And, because almost no western teacher leaves YIC on good terms, besides having to get a multitude of signatures on clearance documents from people you have had absolutely no dealings with, the DMD is used to intimidating you and delaying your departure by refusing to sign your documents until the last minute, an extra punishment for daring to leave.

Post Script: Yanbu Industrial College, true to form, managed to swindle me out of a whole months salary. They invoked a completely unknown (to the teachers) Royal Commission rule which states that a months salary is deducted if a teacher agrees to continue his contract and then resigns. Several months ago, I agreed to stay on, then resigned after the above incident. I gave the college more than two months notice and quit at the end of the school year, inconveniencing no one. Never mind. Here was the technicality needed for the HOD and Deputy Managing Director to get back at me. I was never alerted that this might happen. They needed me to work.

In my final month, I was allowed to teach, proctor for examinations, spend hours marking and computing final grades, all without pay. So typical of the YIC mismanagement especially the deputy managing director! While you work, they plot how to do you out of your salary. Any Royal Commission policies that may affect your decision making will be hidden from you and you will only find out about them when they are used against you. The policy may even be written on the spot, tailor-made to shaft a particular victim. The Royal commission is after all part of the self-serving Saudi government, the same government that forces private sector businesses to pay for work permits and exit/reentry visas for employees but hypocritically forces its own employees (YIC teachers included) to pay for their own work permits and exit/reentry visas. Basically when you arrive, you'll be kept so off balance just coping with the strange grimness of life here, you won't have time to think about bylaws.

When regulation is used against you, you'll be shown a page in Arabic. For all you know it might be the menu from the local restaurant. Basically if they want to harm you (and they usually do) they don't care how they do it.. On another occasion, my salary was short by a sizeable amount. I was told it was for not doing office hours. I was shown a page in Arabic that had come from the deputy managing director. When I got someone reliable to translate, the page actually said that my salary was deducted for being late for class multiple times, an offence I assume the deputy managing director had cooked up to appear more damaging to the accounting department and more deserving of deduction.

In other words, you will never know what they are really whispering about you. Given YIC's inclination to punish teachers, those who simply stay a short time and run away begin to seem like the wisest among us. However, I believe certain Saudi managers are in the habit of seeing westerners as a single entity. Thus when one westerner slips through the cracks unscathed, the remaining teachers can expect even harsher treatment. The longer you stay at YIC, the more contract bonus you accumulate. However the longer you stay, the more chance you have of running afoul of the management. A single fist delivered to the deserving nose of the HOD or DMD can wipe out all your years of bonus. If you are considering coming to YIC, I would seriously think again. This is a nest of vipers. Once you are here, you are at their mercy.

Post Script 2: I am of the opinion that Saudi society has always had anti-western sentiments. They have just become more overt lately. There are many reasons why: the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and the war on terror and how they are portrayed on Arab news channels, Al-Qaeda propaganda, teachings of radical mullahs in mosques and on television, teachings of Islam, the Saudi school system, the perception that Islam is under attack. Take your pick. But what it boils down to is more danger for any white person here, especially those who do not work for well-heeled western companies and live on guarded compounds. Certainly employees of YIC and many other Saudi-managed companies are among the most vulnerable. If you work for YIC and do not plan just to hide in your room and watch television but actually want to go out and get some fresh air by going for a walk, this is what you can expect:

-gangs of youths swearing out of cars at you.
-gangs of youths as well as children throwing stones at you. (On one occasion, a car drove up on the sidewalk in an attempt to run over an American couple out for an evening stroll in Yanbu.)
-being hassled and pestered on even the most remote beaches when you try to escape the town.
-having your family hassled and pestered on remote beaches especially if there are women present. (Saudis will chase you away if you get within 100 yards of their women but they will drive boldly right into your secluded beach area and sit there gawking at any western woman. Once when I was away paddling in my kayak, a Saudi got out of his car to masturbate in front of my wife.)
-If you leave your car unattended, while diving or windsurfing, those same people will break into it to steal what they can.
-And I have not even mentioned yet the ever-present danger of terrorist attack.

Speaking of the terrorist attack in Yanbu in which a number of westerners were murdered by Saudi workmates, one being dragged through the streets behind a car, it is noteworthy that on the day of the attack (which lasted for hours), neither the HOD nor the Deputy Managing Director of YIC had the decency or thoughtfulness to tell the teachers to stay at home. Rather teachers were expected to show up for classes with the sound of gunfire still audible in the streets to teach excited students some of whom had gleefully followed the murderers through the streets and recorded their gruesome antics on their mobile phones. Later the attack was downplayed by the Deputy Managing Director as the isolated actions of deluded madmen and at least one teacher who became extremely concerned about the lack of security was fired by the administration at the insistence of the HOD, who reported the teacher had said unkind things about Saudis.

[scot47]

You didn't like it then ?

[Mohammad]

Scot47,

Is KFUPM as bad as YIC?

[Bebsi]

NO.

[KSA-UK]

[quote="nanosecond"] I was at YIC for 8 years as a teacher
If you work for YIC and do not plan just to hide in your room and watch television but actually want to go out and get some fresh air by going for a walk, this is what you can expect:

-gangs of youths swearing out of cars at you.
-gangs of youths as well as children throwing stones at you. (On one occasion, a car drove up on the sidewalk in an attempt to run over an American couple out for an evening stroll in Yanbu.)
-being hassled and pestered on even the most remote beaches when you try to escape the town.
-having your family hassled and pestered on remote beaches especially if there are women present. (Saudis will chase you away if you get within 100 yards of their women but they will drive boldly right into your secluded beach area and sit there gawking at any western woman. Once when I was away paddling in my kayak, a Saudi got out of his car to *beep* in front of my wife.)
-If you leave your car unattended, while diving or windsurfing, those same people will break into it to steal what they can.
-And I have not even mentioned yet the ever-present danger of terrorist attack.

[/quote]

If YIC and Saudi Arabia in general is that bad, I find it very hard to understand how you managed to stay so long!!

Here are some possible explanations:

1.You either love money to the extent that you are willing to endure all that nonsense...
2. you must be a complete looser in your home country like many of Westerners who come to Saudi Arabia.(I refer you to a brilliant post called "Saudi Arabia an oasis for us loosers!")
3.Or you're simply upset with the "unfair" Muslims in the RC who terminated your contract, soyou decided to write a post on Daves despite the fact that the "Tyranic" Rc gave you a rubbish tax free salary of 12 or 14 K plus huge benefits including free medical, housing, tickets...
4.Or maybe you haven't finished to pay off your mortgage!!!

Don't worry, I am sure you'll find better that the RC...

[GlobalDawg]

Nannie-naa-naa,

While your whinge does have particular merits, the insightful points are overshadowed by your trivial-mindedness and the depiction of yourself as the victim. An after-the-fact mere whiner, you are. I would think that you are not satisfied with the few replies of those who have viewed your post. I suggest you consider points #2 and #3 of KSA-UK's possible explanations--especially point #2.

[nanosecond]

First, KSA-UK, you would have a lot more credibility if you edited and proofread your reply for errors before attacking my post. As for GlobalDawg, your reply suggests a mean-spirited Brit with a tendency to throw out insulting labels who is only able to parrot what KSA-UK initiated. I know little about you, but I believe you are probably both candidates for what you propose for me i.e. #2. If you weren't it wouldn't be on your mind so much.

If a person works for YIC and is not paid for that work, then he is being victimized. Although I did all I could to get paid including seeing the director general of the Royal Commission, I faced a brick wall. So yes, my only alternative was to post on this forum after the fact, if only to let others know they may face the same problem.

People's lives do not fit into the convenient point forms or amusing posts of teachers on this forum. Even the post called "Saudi Arabia, an oasis for us losers" was not to be taken seriously but showed the writer had a sense of humor and a talent for writing comedy and was therefore not a loser. My post simply describes my experiences from my point of view. It was placed here because, having left the country, I finally had the freedom to say what I wanted without fear of administrative retribution. Yes, although I resigned and wasn't terminated, I was angry with the YIC administration and RC and that's what motivated me to write. But I was also concerned about people who might come after me and what they might have to endure. This is after all a discussion forum about our personal work experiences with an aim to expressing feelings and enlightening others, for example, letting other teachers know there are RC bylaws that can be used against them People who have worked for YIC for some time and live in Yanbu have faced similar problems to mine. Some haven't considered posting and others would love to post but don't because (even under an assumed name) they might be found out and suffer "administrative action," YIC-speak for punishment. I would like to thank the people in the latter category who have expressed their support through private mail. Only people who have lived through the punishment that YIC can inflict, fully know what I am talking about.

Why do people stay in a job for so long, even under difficult circumstance? First, there is nothing unusual about wanting to work and gaining a source of income. Next, I have to say that conditions at YIC for my first 5 years were not as bad as they are now. The previous two HODs actually sympathized with the teachers and supported them, as opposed to the present HOD who appears only interested in helping his clique of cronies, in self-preservation and slavish adherence to the dictates of the Deputy Managing Director no matter how the morale of teachers suffers.

When terrorism hit Yanbu, it made it infinitely harder to stay here. But if you have a family and need an income to support them, that's motivation enough to continue. And despite the fear of terrorism that is prevalent in Yanbu among westerners, Yanbu is an excellent place to practise water and wind sports which was my original motivation for choosing to come here. So right up until I left, I continued snorkelling, windsurfing, kiteboarding and kite landboarding. So I made my own fun.
As well, you need the capacity to live with your own negative perception of your work environment for long periods without running away, in other words live with your own thoughts.

So it is possible to stay in a job here, not because you are a loser (losers quit easily and don't have any fun) but because you have fortitude, persistence, good motivation and interesting activities to do. In other words, you try to make a life for yourself. Winners leave Saudi with the funds and motivation to finance sailing adventures, make interesting career moves or carry out adventurous business ideas, all of which I will be pursuing.

[KSA-UK]

Apart from my errors...
I think I understand now...in fact you're a winner and that's why you're leaving Saudi Arabia.

I'm getting my final exit tomorrow then...I'll probably go back to the UK to teach 35 hours a week, mark books for two hours everyday, pay tax every year to her majesty and her gang of ...., rent a two bedroom flat for half my wage...or simply sign on!

And I 'll get a free ticket!!! Great

[Stephen Jones]

[nanosecond]

Well, KSA-UK, you are what you make of yourself despite adverse conditions. If the picture you paint is all you'd have to look forward to should you resign then you have my condolences. I know almost nothing about teaching in Britain, but what you suggest for yourself does sound pretty grim. Surely, there are other dreams and talents that you haven't tapped into as yet.

[scot47]

SOME PEOPLE SHOULD STAY AT HOME. NOT EVERYONE İS SUİTED TO WORKİNG İN KSA !

[Bebsi]

In a sense I agree with everyone here. Many people have their reasons for working in KSA, and at the end of the day, most of us are just trying to get through life in their own way. Fair enough.

I see why KSA-UK doesn't want to leave KSA, it suits him and many others. I'm not sure I would fancy teaching in the UK either, or even living there. He is doing what suits him best.

Nanosecond is quite correct also, and he did what suited HIM best, both in the past and now. I admire him for the fact that he stuck out what was clearly a miserable situation, WITHOUT GRIPING. Unlike many others, he didn't moan about his situation while putting up with it. He accepted that the merits of remaining there, and shutting-up while putting-up, surpassed the merits of leaving. Fair enough! I admire him for this, although I myself couldn't stand another day of UCY and just walked out. Then, when circumstances changed, he adapted and made a new decision.

Both courses of action are cool. If you hate it, and leave, have a good moan and gripe by all means. If you hate it but decide to stay, then accept that. It's the moaners who still accept it that really try my patience.

Anyway NS, good luck with your new life and whatever new ventures you embark on.

And remember folks, as Scot47 says, Saudi is not for everyone to begin with. If you decide to go there, check out employers very carefully. There really are the good, the bad and in some cases, the downright ugly.