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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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 Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Why do 'brown skinned' workers accept all these humiliation and stay here? Why not resign with dignity and leave this magic kingdom and live proudly elsewhere?? |
Yes, no one has forced them to stay, but at the end of the day, dignity cannot fill their stomachs, what to talk of their families' stomachs back home.
If all the menial workers in this country, from Asians to Arabs to Africans, if they all stood up and walked out of the country because of mistreatment, do you think the Saudis would care? They can get millions more who are dying to come here, and they know it.
If as a construction laborer in Saudi you can earn as much as a doctor (GP) would back in your country (literally), or as a shopkeeper/family driver earn even more than that, that's enough to cover the verbal abuses, squalid living conditions, working under the sun all day, withholding/delay of a few salaries, disrespect, etc.
With the money they get here, they are able to build houses for their families back home, send their kids to school and university, and keep their stomachs full. Where else could they do that?
You talk about living elsewhere proudly. Where would that be? If they stayed back home, they would be jobless, or earning a fifth of what they earn here. The Gulf is the only place that would take them. They can't go to Europe or NA. What else is there? Africa? |
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Latteegirl1974
Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 75
Location: Webkinz World
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| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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OK back to the advice.......... Can I get a MP3 player with my favorite tunes on it through customs into the KSA?
What about movies, My kids have at least 20 Disney DVDs will the customs take them away?
Someone said that I need a BLACK abaya? Is it a crime to wear dark blue? How necessary is it to wear an abaya?
I just like wearing long clothes. I can't imagine putting on an abaya on top of them. |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:27 am Post subject: |
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MP3 player: Yes
Disney movies: Most probably yes (those who actually do this or have tried it can answer)
Abaya: I have seen dark blue abayas in public, around 10-20 only, in 20+ years! I don't know who started the black thing, but it is pretty cruel and dehumanizing. As if the sun was not strong enough here. What is wrong with light colors? Don't ask me. I wonder if there is actually a law that says that abayas need to be worn, let alone them having to be black.
As I said, you will only see black in public. Why don't you go ahead and bring dark blue, dark brown/tan, beige/cream, light/dark grey, and some more colors along those lines, and be one of the first to break the mold here!  I AM SERIOUS.
But yes, they *do* have to be worn. Again, I don't know if there really is a codified law which says that or not, but every woman does.
Don't worry... when you come here you will see, experience, and hear lots of [compulsory] traditions here which have nothing to do with Islam, and some which are in fact un-Islamic. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:02 am Post subject: |
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I wonder if there is actually a law that says that abayas need to be worn, let alone them having to be black.
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As I've said before on this forum, there does not seem to be any law obliging women to wear abayas.Some of our more cerebrally challenged posters did accuse of being an 'apologist' for the authorities by pointing that out: work that one out for yourself, if you can.
In any case, the point is moot as, whatever the exact legalities, in practice all women do have to wear the abaya in public. They are invariably black, at least in Riyadh and the Najd region. I'm told that, contrary to common assumptions, the abaya actually is not the traditional dress of Gulf women, and that it was imported into the region from Iraq less than a hundred years ago, as a kind of national uniform. A sort of similar thing happened with the standardisation of male dress across the country.
| Quote: |
| be one of the first to break the mold here! Very Happy I AM SERIOUS. |
I always wince when I hear some expat thinking they can break any 'molds' here. It's a little like the teachers who come and think they are going to 'liberate' the poor oppressed Saudi women.... |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:23 am Post subject: |
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In Eastern Province (Dhahran/Khobar/Damma) you will spot some foreign women without abayas.Everywhere else in KSA the BLACK abaya is the uniform.
I am curious about when the thobe and ghutra became 'de rigeur' for local males. Quite recently I believe. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:35 am Post subject: |
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I am curious about when the thobe and ghutra became 'de rigeur' for local males. Quite recently I believe. |
That's what I think too. Until the formation of the modern state, I believe there was quite a bit of regional variation in male dress throughout the peninsula. Most men did wear some version of the 'thobe and ghutra' but there was quite a degree of difference from place to place. For example a lot of men in the south-west wore the 'turban style' headdress which many men in Yemen still wear. I think the current 'uniform' of white thobe and red-checked or white ghutra was encouraged as some sort of unifying national dress. Same with the black abaya. |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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| trapezius wrote: |
| Yes, no one has forced them to stay, but at the end of the day, dignity cannot fill their stomachs, what to talk of their families' stomachs back home. |
A person with a 'dignity' is a person who eat to live not live to eat and fill his stomach with Basmati rice, Pitta Bread, and Shawarma. And then accepts humilation and insults from Uncle Bandar! In this case, he should bear responsibilty for the loss of his dignity.
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| The Gulf is the only place that would take them. They can't go to Europe or NA. What else is there? Africa? |
Why not? They may try Kerala, Mombai, or Istanbul! |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Could you please stop the silly and inane references to "Uncle Bandar". Nobody of that name has anything to do with the welfare of foreign workers in KSA. |
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Paul in Saudi
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 404
Location: Doha, Qatar
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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Advice for newbies? Advice I wish someone had told me?
1. On the airplane, it is a Meccah-meter. It shows the direction to the Holy City.
2. In the airport, it is NOT a urinal. Trust me. |
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jwbhomer
Joined: 14 Dec 2003
Posts: 876
Location: CANADA
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Cleopatra wrote: |
| Could you please stop the silly and inane references to "Uncle Bandar". Nobody of that name has anything to do with the welfare of foreign workers in KSA. |
Just put a full stop after "references". |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Abba,
A tip. Never confuse idiocy with wit.
That is all. |
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