Job Discussion Forums

[axfoley]

New poster here,

Considering another year here in Hofuf. Will offer a "male" perspective on various topics over the next few weeks

Compound life - our compound houses apx. 70 people - men and women

pool. basic gym, and small library are on-site - that's it.

The buildings are less than 3 years old and we experience constant water, A/C and electrical outages. Also, things are breaking/falling apart all the time. Expect many mornings where running water and showers will be a "luxury."

Safety - for men, it's much safer than for women. In the past 9 months, along with various thefts, there have been 2 fires on the compound, one mugging at the gate, and the body of a raped and murdered woman was dumped at the compound.

[nickelgoat]

Yes, I'd like to know more. I was there in 2009-10 as those buildings were opened. The pool didn't begin to be constructed till near the end of my time there. The other stuff seems a bit surprising. We were promised high-speed internet and they never came through with it. Management (hockey brothers) was awful - I'm sure you've read through other postings, which sometimes get taken down if they get too interesting. When the hockey brothers leave it might be a better place.

[scot47]

Which brothers ? Are they named after the sport they favour ?

[jaffa]

[feverpitch]

The Brothers or Team Hoyt, as they are more affectionately known, are a train wreck. Awful "management", or bullying as most people would describe it, are the primary reason most people leave Shabaka, and this year seems to be no different.....or does it????

This year I have heard that the owner is, supposedly, now going round rehiring people that were fired by one of the brothers and telling them their jobs are safe. Oh, does it bring a smile to my face when I hear such things

Have fun at the Canada Camp boys!

[edd_moseley]

I'm currently working at Shabaka, and to be honest it's not quite as bad as the OP would have you believe.

Compound life:

Yes, now and again things do tend to break around the compound, last week for instance my foot went through my shower tray. A new one was installed pretty quickly though.

As for constant water/ AC/ electricity problems. Water - In 9 months my water has been off four times, each around an hour at a time. A little annoying, but really not to bad. AC - never had a problem. Electricity - power went off once after some rain, but it was just the fuse box.

Safety:

Various thefts? Not heard of one inside the compound to be honest. Someone did have their motorbike stolen whilst they were getting a shwarma, but they did leave the keys in the ignition!

The murdered woman: This is true, and a very sad story. The guy was caught (on CCTV) and it turns out it was a Saudi guy who had killed his maid, when the police raided his house they found that he had a few more locked up, or so the story goes.

As for the safety of the teachers here, the biggest complaint for the women has been the starring. There have been a couple of blonde male teachers that have been propositioned a little more aggressively, but came out unscathed.

Management:

I've read a couple of threads about the hockey brothers, and they must have changed a lot this year. They are professional, and it's safe to say that the vast majority of men this year have had no problems with the management whatsoever. We've had one guy leave this year, that was due to the pressures of life in KSA rather than anything else.

There was quite a lot of trouble on the women's side for the first two semesters. We had four women leave, but there was a 'reshuffle' and now it seems things have calmed down quite a lot - my wife is far happier now that's for sure!

That whole thing about the owner. Well, we wont know if it was just said to placate the teachers for another couple of weeks. Why the owner would want to undermine the management that's been in place for the past 3 years or so, and I imagine had made him a tidy sum, is anyone's guess.

Anyway, I know I rambled on a bit, but I wanted to give my (and I can safely say most people's) honest view of things here. There have been a few posts from teachers that were here last year, it seems to me that things must have changed a lot since then.

If anyone is considering working here next year and has any specific questions please PM me and I will do the best I can.

[edd_moseley]

A couple of things I forgot:

Mugging: Yes our Bangladeshi compound handy-man / go-to guy, was jumped by some teenagers on the same block as our compound and got his new scooter stolen! Horrible little brats!

Fire: We had the a fire over the weekend. The vacant building lot on the compound had some trash catch fire. It was very exciting and gave us a chance to use over extinguishers and fire hoses.

Disaster drills will be mandatory next year!

[Grendal]

The brothers Canuk should be considered more as dictators than management. And by the way they are really American but live in Canada. Their dream is to build a house out in the east coast and retire. I hope that day comes soon. I never gots (yes no typo here, GOTS) any support from the origins of sin sibling and he probably didn't recommend me for another contract. The other drunkard hadn't arrived when I was in Hofuf.

Grendal

[Grendal]

Also if you are ever thinking of using any job experience here in Saudi on your resume/CV. It may be a detriment. Think twice before you list those evil brothers as your unprofessional contacts. I even have a hard time using King Saud University as a reference in my job experience section. I definitely don't use King Faisal University anymore.

Grendal

[axfoley]

Let me respond to Edd,

An opinion is one thing, but facts are another.

First, 3 women departed - not 4

Second, many thefts occurred on the compound last year during the summer break - ask any teacher that was here.

Third, a major fire occurred last year because of a faulty fixture - it was brought to my attention after inquiring about the constant ringing (5 AM) of the fire bell( fire bells, extinguishers, fire hoses were added after the fire department concluded the compound did not meet safety standards)

The fire last week had to be put out with extinguishers because the fire hose/pumps didn't work!

Also, western women are constantly harassed in Hofuf by the men and the religious "police".

[Grendal]

[edd_moseley]

Hi Axfoley,

well, lets say three and a half women left, as one was talked into staying after she had given in her notice.

As for the thefts during the summer, I thought your post was about things that had happened during the time you and I have been here. So yes, a couple of motorbikes were stolen during last summer (there seems to be a pattern here!) but this was during long summer vacation when all the teachers had left. All suspicion seems to have fallen on the old security guard company, which has now been changed.

I wanted to clarify as your post seemed to imply that things had been taken out of teachers apartments - which has never happened.

Major fire last year, I had heard about that. It seems that the ever vigilant Civil Defence Brigade has done their job and enforced the stringent fire regulations. There are now a large number of extinguishers dotted around the compound, and every apartment has smoke/ heat detectors. Your right that the hoses didn't work initially last weekend, as the pump wasn't switched on! But within 5 minutes they were up and running and used to return peace to the compound, you missed all the excitement? BTW I saw them cleaning up the vacant lot today, so it seems that something is being done.

As for harassment of women, we and our friends have experienced very little here. Apart from the old "Hair, hair!" when down-town, or even telling me off for wearing shorts! (again down-town) I would say that this is experienced all over KSA rather than specifically Hofuf. From talking to other friends that live around the Kingdom, it seems that here is no better or worse.

[ExpatinTown]

There has been some harassment of women. From the rumors I heard, it is mostly the younger and unmarried ladies that get harassed by the religious police to cover their hair. Then again, most of the married ladies probably go out with their husbands. Guys do comment in Arabic while driving by the ladies and some throw pieces of paper. It is a good thing we don't know what they are saying because it would most likely bother us. However, this is standard in Saudi Arabia in general it seems.

There was a woman raped, murdered, and dumped outside the compound walls. The woman was an immigrant of course and rumor has it was a young Saudi man who was caught. What was done to him is unknown. Whether or not it was a way to send a message to us on the compound ... I don't know. However, it did send the message that if your a woman and not Saudi, this could happen to you. No one bothered to tell us what the police will do to the man who raped and killed this woman.

[scot47]

You went downtown in SHORTS ?????????????????????

[cmp45]

Scott,
You can take the man out of the west, but you can't take the west out of the man.