Scared to move to Kuwait

I can relate to your problem @sarafdjffff. Being African living in the middle east, I was subject to one form of racism or another.

I have been ridiculed, stereotyped, laughed at .... you know the drill. Until I started to think about it and realized that ..... any person with such a mind set must be REEEEAAAALLYYYY RETAAAAAARDED.

From that time on I was invincible. No one could get to me with all that "You're black blah blah blah" crap. I started making fun of how retarded these people are.

So be strong and be proud and don't let someone's "retardedness" be the reason of your sadness. We are who we are, and no one is entitled to judge others unless he/she is ready to be judged by everybody else.

Justfedup - I understand that this isn't the best thread to post this on, but as a black person, have you been treated mainly negatively in Kuwait? I have read mixed information on the treatment of black people in the Middle East, especially as there are black native Kuwaitis (I'm not sure if they describe themselves as black?) and as I'm black I would be interested in your views on this.

@newbie25 I will post more on the matter later, on the thread talking about racism in Kuwait. G'night!

Hi sarafdjffff,

Welcome to Expat.com.

Since you posted on an old thread, a new discussion was created using your post on the Kuwait forum for better interaction.

A little advice I can give you is not to pay attention to people's comments. You need to be strong

Have a nice day,

Hasnaa

My daughter is overweight and went to Cambridge and ESF as well, the uniforms did not fit my daughter or my son. I think Americans have bigger/taller body shapes perhaps lol in the end I had to special order uniforms for both so it's possible to get bigger sizes, the school has to accommodate children of all sizes. Unfortunately there's no way of changing the way children think and what they say, my daughter is still being made fun of because of her weight. It would be best to not react to their taunts and keep a journal of  what the kids do and say and make sure you tell your parents about what is going on. ESF is much better than Cambridge when it comes to following the rules. You are still young and will one day blossom into a smart, beautiful young lady, don't let those kids get you down. Be better than them and just ignore their words and focus on your schoolwork. Good luck!

[Moderated: off topic]

Hi sarafdjfff,

Talking as both someone who has been a teacher for 25 years now and  a father of 4 sons and daughters that are now all adults and another son who will soon be seven years old, I really understand how you feel and the fears that are going through your head right now.

You're a smart and interesting person, the fact that you have friends in the school where you are now proves that and you will make new friends at your school in Kuwait too.

You need to know that boys and girls develop quite differently, boys that are the same age as you are quite immature, really. They're still little boys as opposed to girls that are becoming young women. So you're going to be much more mature than the boys, probably way smarter than they are too!!! So, what does it matter if you're not popular with them, they're just silly little boys after all.

There are two important things that you need to remember:

First, people pick on and bully other people because of their own insecurity. They do it because they feel there is something wrong with them or because there is something that they don't like about themselves. So, to make themselves feel better they bully other people, they feel powerful and that makes up for what they don't like about themselves. Many times the bullies are actually kids that are being abused at home or live in a home where they see abuse all the time, mom and dad fighting. While that knowledge might not make the bullying go away, understanding it might help you to not let it hurt your feelings so much and cope with it. Maybe you could even respond to somebody who is bullying you...

"Gosh, I really feel sorry for you, it must be terrible that you feel so bad about yourself that you need to bully people in order to feel better!"

Actually if you do that it lets all the other kids see the bullies for what they REALLY are... weaklings who feel bad about themselves.

The second thing to remember is that school is not a popularity contest, you are there to learn and the more you learn the better off you are going to be when you are an adult. You'll have better job opportunities, better salaries, be able to live in better parts of the city, have nice clothes all because you focused at school and learned a lot.

So, don't worry about what the boys will say about you or if they bully you. Don't worry if you don't have a lot of friends among the other girls at school either, you'll have some. That is what you need to really concentrate on. Make a couple of really good friends, devote your attention to them and IGNORE all the rest because you can't change them, they are just silly and abusive children that you really don't want to know anyway.

Good luck sweetheart and keep your hopes up! Study hard and build a bright future for yourself.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Sara my heart goes out to you. I've just arrived in Kuwait & my kids are babies so I can't offer you any advice on schools. But I too was bullied in my school back in the UK, I know how tough it can be - my tip is ignore the jerks as previous posters have said much better than I could. I hope you find some good friends - even if only one or 2). This and family are all that matters + keep in touch with your friends now. In the real world popularity in school doesn't really matterin the 'real' world. Also having just left very good friends & loving family last week to come here to Kuwait for my husbands job I know how hard it is to leave a familiar place. Best wishes x