Job Discussion Forums

[John Carpenter]

�Life at Oryx is now fairly quiet, now the source of the thefts and other activities has left the compound. This happened 8 days ago�. Brasscat

(Quote from Dave�s ESL PMU in Al Khobar article, dated November 9, 2007)



I arrived to start work at PMU in mid 2007, the third semester the University was open. At that time the Campus had one building in use. Morale was high and the staff mixed freely, and readily cooperated and supported one another. PMU had just purchased the former Al Mouhawis compound and renamed it Oryx 1. There were 75 villas for the faculty and a Clinic building where the Filipina housecleaners, administrative assistants and the Female Campus Nurse all lived.

There was a pool with a toilet and shower area that did not work. For the women there was a Ladies Centre that was a small hall shaped like a Bedouin tent. The children had a very small playground with swings and other rides There was a main Hall where functions and parties were held by the people living there. For a while there were big screen TV�s that people used to show movies, some residents used to play cards and others would just go to hang out. It was a place to socialise or just get out of your villa. There is only one TV there now and very little socialising. There was also a building that was supposed to become a Kindergarten or Day Care Centre but it was never used as such.

The Amenities Centre had table tennis and a poolroom. There was no workout room (then), no library, no convenience store or anything else to make life easier. Outside there was a basketball court, a tennis court with a broken net and an unused squash court.

For the first few months, there was an Advisory Committee consisting of the Compound residents and the then Director of Administrative Affairs. The Committee wrote suggested rules and regulations for Compound residents, which were turned down by the University Management. After the Committee suggested that the University hire a pool lifeguard or at least enforce a rule that parents must accompany their kids to the pool, the Committee was disbanded by PMU Management.

Most of the villas are 2-storey with 3 bedrooms. I have one of the one-storey, 2 bedroom villas, but I was promised a 2-storey villa which I strenuously and successfully rejected. Over the next few years, as Oryx 1 filled up, the Kindergarten/Day Care Centre were used for other reasons.

The outside of Oryx 1 has deteriorated dramatically. Most of the privacy walls surrounding each villa were removed because some walls (only) were unstable. Last year, all the trees in the Compound were cut down because we were told that the roots interfered with the sewerage but not all trees were near the sewerage lines, We were also told that other trees which didn�t have roots that sought out water would replace the removed trees but, instead, the tree boxes were cemented over so that nothing could be planted in them. The pool was eventually closed at one stage because people were getting sick. It has been empty or out of use for most of this year because of lack of chemicals to fight the algae bloom. It is open now.

Three years ago, there were 30+ computers in the Hall, and all of them worked, and people would meet there at night to chat and surf the internet. Now there are about 6 that work, most only have games for the kids and very few have internet connection. The Hall is also very rundown with broken furniture, ripped curtains and rubbish seldom cleaned up.

The professional daily rubbish collection was discontinued because it cost too much. So now a PMU utility pick-up comes around once or twice a week to get as much as will fit in the utility.

Because of the amount of rubbish that lies around, there is sometimes a nasty stench, particularly around the old Amenities Centre, which has been converted into a dormitory for 30+ Filipina housecleaners. When the numbers of people in the Clinic became too great � I think there were about 20 people living in 4 or 5 rooms - it was decided that the 2-storey 2-room Centre would be converted into a dormitory for the Housecleaners. (The Clinic would be retained for Filipina Administrative Assistants and the Female nurse.) Upstairs in the Centre is the sleeping area, with bunk-beds only and downstairs is for cooking, showering, and an area for eating and watching TV. Originally upstairs was divided up with lockers that the ladies obtained from the female campus. The Houscleaners obtained them after they had been left outside the main Hall for several months. They used the lockers for some privacy and also to store their clothes since PMU didn�t supply any dressers or the like. Then the Management decided to partition the room into 9 cells. The walls did not go the ceiling as there were only 2 AC units for upstairs so there was not much quietness, and personal space was at a premium, particularly when the numbers living there doubled in a 12 month period. Downstairs, 2 showers with a toilet in each were built, set up in such a way that you could use one or the other but not both at the same time. The stove has 3 cooking rings, and there is one fridge, for 30 people. They have one washing machine and clothes are hung on a line against the basketball court.

Earlier this year there was a fire in the building because the electrical circuits were overloaded. The ladies were told to move their personal possessions outside into the Ladies Centre (which was never used or cleaned and didn�t even have curtains on the windows) until the fire damage was repaired. Eventually some of them were told they could move into one of the empty villas but they still had to return to the damaged building to eat, shower and use the toilet.

There is also an overabundance of feral cats, due in large part to the uncollected rubbish.

In my villa, most of the plaster ceiling tiles have been replaced in 2 of the 5 rooms that have these tiles. They ran out of the lighter tiles before they finished and I have 17 gaps in my ceiling where tiles were not replaced or have fallen out. I also have drainage problems, about once every 4 months on average, and it is difficult to keep the place free of wind-blown sand. When the powers-that-be decided to change the gate system, the workers turned my tidy backyard into an industrial waste dump which I had to clean up. Every time the gates breakdown, about every 2nd month, the workers come and trash my yard again. They are currently adding an extra meter to the top of the fence and the barbed wire from the top is sitting in my backyard.

When the Compound was full, many of the Ladies were able to supplement their meagre incomes by cleaning and ironing for the staff, but now because their numbers have grown and the number of occupied villas has decreased, they no longer have access to this extra income. About one month in every 3 three, our wages are late, generally for only about a week. The faculty and staff are usually well insulated and not discomforted for long but the Filipinas sometimes go for a month without pay, and they have to rely on personal friendships with teachers to get loans to carry them until they receive their wages.

Many of the residents have come down with some sort of skin rash because of bacteria in the water. The water storage tanks apparently hadn�t been cleaned since I arrived. The Compound has run out of water several times so we have had to go to work without showers. Of course the Campus has also run out of water so the toilets couldn�t be flushed, and we still had to stay for the day.

At this point in time, there are 27 empty villas, and soon it will be 31. Some of these villas are unliveable because of structural damage, but most are just vacant. Most new teachers are sent to Bilad which is a very green compound with smaller apartments, not villas, but more socially isolated than Oryx. A select few are offered accommodation at Oryx. There was great potential for Oryx but it is being ignored and the place is sharply deteriorating.. On weekends, Oryx is like a ghost town with people either isolating themselves in their villas or leaving to find enjoyment outside. Still, if you are planning to come to work at PMU, Oryx is the best option.



John (Jason) Carpenter
Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University
ESL/EFL Instructor
P.O. Box 1664
Al-Khobar
Saudi Arabia 31952
PMU (966)3-849-9393
KSA Mobile 050 435 5021
Villa 966 3 868 3275 ext 201 (H)

[scot47]

I cannot imagine that your masters at PMU will take kindly to this post. have you considered the possibility of being "runwayed" ?

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

He's already been given his marching orders...what's the prob, Bob?

NCTBA

[John Carpenter]

Not 'been given', 'given'. I gave 2 month's notice on the 18th of this month and will teach my last class on 15th December if not before. I have been badly dealt with and wrongly penalized by PMU and it has cost me about $6000, and I do not expect fair treatment from them. But as I said in an earlier post this month (PMU Beware) I am not the bigger loser. I still have my integrity and my sense of fair play, my work ethic and work ability is not in question and my peers still trust and respect me.

[trapezius]

Sounds like a shanty town!

In a rich university in a rich country, that's a disgrace.

[scot47]

It is housing for migrant workers. Locals do not live there.

[veiledsentiments]

It is one thing to sign your name... another to give all your personal contact information. Are you sure that you want this info out on the web?

Personally I wouldn't have posted this until I was out of the country. (you could edit it out...)

VS

[John Carpenter]

Yes, it probably would be wiser from a financial perspective to have waited until I left the country, but I think this is how they control people. I was a faithful servant to PMU. I never missed classes, I worked outside my brief and I even arranged for a prostate operation during a holiday period so it would not interfere with classes. I did everything that was called for to check up on my visa and the rector set me up.The individual that I complained about for being lazy, incompetent and very careless with the truth was the person who 'investigated' my complaint. But this individual wrote a report without carrying out any investigation. He never questioned me or people named by me. I don't expect fair treatment but I am hoping that I am called upon to give my side of the story by promoting their dishonesty and incompetence. And putting my address and phone numbers out there has been incredibly interesting as I have been given a lot more information. Anybody who wants more (less sanitized) information, feel free to contact me on [email protected]

[Mia Xanthi]

As a long time poster on this board, I just want to verify that the OP is completely trustworthy and honest in his account of the housing situation. In fact, if anything, he is holding back on the truth in order to be more than fair to the PMU admin.

The OP is reliable, believable, honest.....one of the best, most dedicated colleagues I have had. I respect him and I respect his words. You should, too.

[John Carpenter]

I have just been reminded of one more aspect re Oryx sliding downhill. In the good old days of full residency, we were able to get plumbing electrical and other services pretty quickly by talking to workers on site who had these skills. Sometimes there were problems because of lack of tools or equipment and some tenants supplied these so the work could be done. Nowadays, these skilled people are no longer working on the compound. If you require assistance, you have to send an email to the IT help desk and eventually you should be contacted by someone who can fix the problem. When one of my toilets stopped functioning, the plumber came out in a few days and repaired the cistern. Two days ago I notified them of a sewage problem but have heard nothing to date. Thank God I have the other toilet working. PMU claims that the sewage problem is due to tree roots, but when they cut the trees down, they left the roots in the ground. Hmm, food for thought there!

[scot47]

The next step for PMU ? Recruiting English teachers fromn Islamabad and Bombay ? Cheaper and less vociferous in their criticism of management.

[trapezius]

[scot47]

I will excuse the unauthorised editing of my words - because it reflects reality.

[isabel]

Yes, I would like to add that John is a stand up guy, honest to a fault, and exceedingly brave to be doing this.

I will also add that even a couple of years ago it was impossible to get things repaired quickly. I had 2 inches of raw sewage in my villa for three days before getting it taken care of. It was a literal cesspool.

It is no surprise that they have continued to slide. I am afraid that they will either hire ignorant newbies or desperate sub-continentals and abuse them even worse. In any other country an institution like this would have been closed by now.

In Saudi Arabia, the place is owned by and named for a direct relative of the head of the country.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]