It’s a life without dignity in Kuwait

Well written and true to the last bit of it.

I don't know how many of my grey hairs come from that one year I spent in that beautiful country, but I'm sure it's a few.

I have never ever expected anything like that.
Overpriced apartments for Western Expats, after every sand storm you have to clean the whole place because the dust gets through the windows. Hellholes for Asian workers, I don't even want to describe their living conditions.

http://www.nicoleb.org/images/Kuwait_/street2.jpg

Trash everywhere and idiocy wherever you go.
Trying to get to a place with a taxi is an ordeal, even when you have a map and you can show the place you want to go.

When you are fair skinned they try to cheat you out of your last penny. I had more than one verbal argument with taxi drivers and I can tell you people don't like women arguing with them.

Even when you are decently dressed you get rude stares and more than rude offers. They are even worse to their own kind though. I've seen men molest women dressed in Abayas with small kids in their arms.

Crime is getting worse by the week. Murder, rape and whatnot is in the papers daily.

I am glad we did leave.

It took my husband 4 weeks to get the Visa canceled through his company. Screw up after screw up.

For me things like "No Photography" really got me.
For example going to Green Island they told me at the entrance I wasn't allowed to take pictures.
Totally insane.
(Green Island out of the air - nobody could tell me "No" there )



For the ones that still will go / have to go to Kuwait, I have a few bits and pieces of Information about what you can do and where you can go on my website.
It's far from finished, I always keep adding small things, but it's at least a little bit of the big picture
Kuwait Info

I wrote a lot of rants on my blog during the time I've been in Kuwait.
Ramadan, freedom of religion & expression, modern slavery, our day at Ahmadi police station, about debt relief for Kuwaitis.....I sometimes go back, read them again and am just glad we are out of there.

And I tend(ed) to generalize sometimes. I don't really mean to. I met quite a few decent Kuwaitis there myself. Many that are not happy with the country and the situation there.
But most people just have the "Inshallah" attitude and I doubt much will change there.

I'm gonna post some more pics, I would have now, but I must have deleted a folder

Some glimpses of Kuwait

To the left a health center, in the front some living quarters



fixing a truck



fishing in a sand storm



Insanity in driving (Kuwait city)



These buildings are normal



My kitchen table after a storm



A Ferrari stopping to get some refreshments



Green island from above



Kuwait city



Kuwait towers



Liberation tower with Kuwait city view



Why you never get mail in Kuwait / or why your mail never reaches its destination



Souq Mubarakiya



A beautiful beach....

Dear Nicole,

I have a good friend who is also exiting Kuwait currently, and asked me for some help on the formalities etc.  As your husband went through the whole process, would you be able to provide a list of steps, either on this forum or send it to fbalfour@hotmail.com.

Thanks in advance,

Ferdinand Balfoort

www.balfoort.com.my

Thanks Nicole,

much appreciated, it provides good pointers to an expatiate's exit from Kuwait.  I think you are correct that any employing company should normally take care of these matters, but unless the employer is reputable and ethically above board one should expect plenty of challenges as this is a good opportunity for any unscrutable parties to make life difficult.

I will relay some of the points to my friend just in case, and I think your advice to ask the embassy for help is a very sound one,

Best regards,

Ferdinand

Dear South,

I do not have detailed statistics at hand but it appears that the total population of Kuwait is approximately 3 - 3.5 million, of which nearly a third are nationals and the rest (2 - 2.5 million) are therefore foreigners.  Of these foreigners/ expatriates, a majority is from the Indian sub continent (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) and they are represented strongly at all levels of organizations.

Your question is very apt, and your comment was reflected by a Danish executive from a well known Scandinavian company in Asia I met last week who has decided not to do any business with India, mostly due to the very different cultural perspectives between Denmark and India. 

In the interest of being brief, an Indian national working for McKinsey many years ago as a senior professional consultant defined the business and social hierarchies in his country as  as "Kiss Up and Kick Down".  The same mentality has to this extent been exported to Kuwait based on the population statistics I noted above.

Best regards,

Ferdinand

www.balfoort.com.my

Nicole i like your pictures!!!!!!! TNX ...

And the same got you...

south wrote:

Hi Ferdinand

Thanks for your post.

As I guess you know my point was: "dont through with stones if you live in a glass house" (Danish way of saying), and "treat others like you want to be treated". Not because I want to accuse the author of this thread; just a general comment to how one should behave in life :-)

BR

Lea

you are 100% right, i appreciate your way of thinking.i travelled to many westren and asian countries, and all of them have advantages and disadvantages but i never treat them badly.we should respect the others becouse we are not 100%perfect.

To Sherafghan:

I know I'm a bit late in reading this post, but from what you've written, I suppose racism, prejudice and discrimination hasn't changed all that much.

My father was posted on assignment in Kuwait from 1979-1986. I spent my early childhood and pre-teen years over there. My parents sent us to study at the American School of Kuwait (ASK) in Salwah.  My family moved back to the US when I was 12 years old.

When my family was living there, Kuwait was definitely not a color blind society. Wages and salary depended on one's nationality and skin color. The lighter one's skin, the "better" the person was in the eyes of most Kuwaitis. Indians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Filipinos and Thais (there were quite a bit of them in Kuwait during those days) were at the bottom of the barrel in terms of how they were treated. It was quite common to hear locals say those aformentioned nationalities were "donkies" or "(Insert one of those nationalities above) no good"  in their rudimentary English.   In addition, there was a very high incidence of abuse (mostly rape) among domestic helpers of these nationalities by their Kuwaiti employers. 

The Palestinian, Egyptian, Yemeni and Qatari laborers/'guest workers' were paid higher wages than their  Asian counterparts because they were "Arab brothers."

Looking at NicoleB's photos, Kuwait definitely looked nothing like that.  It was desolate and dusty. The streets had no names. And I am not exaggerating, as I spent 7 years of my life in that country, before I ever lived in my own country, the US.   Whenever my parents were invited to parties or other kids from school invited us to their birthday parties, it was standard to include a hand-drawn map in the invitation. We used embassies as landmarks. If the venue said "2km from the Lebanese Embassy," you better know what the Lebanese flag looks like.

There weren't that many cars as shown in NicoleB's photos.  You can drive up to 120 km/hr.  Kuwait's population back then was less than 1 million.  The expats/foreign workers outnumbered the local Kuwaiti population.  It was a very safe, albeit boring, place. My dad used to leave his car doors unlocked.  And this was in Kuwait City and Salmiyah, the only 2 developed downtowns back then.  These were the only 2 places with high-rise buildings and 5-star hotels.

As for cost of living, we lived in 3-bedroom flat in Salwah and my parents paid US $1,200/month. This was in 1984-1986 dollars. This wasn't a prime area, mind you. Just a mid-range area.  There were about 5 or 6 other brick flats mostly occupied by Lebanese and British expats. Everybody had the same view outside their window-an endless view of the desert.  Most of the roads were unpaved. My shoes were always filled with sand after walking for more than 5 minutes. I used to hear my parents say that we might as well be living in Manhattan with that amount they were paying in rent.   

It took 1-1.5 years to get a phone line.

The only thing that was cheap in Kuwait was petrol and health care (free).  Everything else was over-priced. Heaven knows how much my parents complained about it when we first arrived.

That photo of NicoleB's kitchen table, the one after a sandstorm with all that dust on it made me smile.  Brought back memories.

There were no McDonalds, Starbucks or Burger King. The only places/restaurants to choose from were: Hungry Bunny, Pizza Italia, Hardees, Chicken Tikka, and Popeye's and that Swiss chain Movenpick, if my memory serves me correctly.  If you wanted fine dining, you had to go to the 5-star hotels.  That would be the Meridien in Kuwait City, The Marriott Hotel (it was a yacht back then).   Are those establisments I mentioned still around?

Life was pretty simple since there wasn't much to do with very limited choices.  For us kids, the highlight was going to that huge Safeway or the Sultan Centre in Shuweikh. We'd get really excited about it. There was just one toy store called Kids R Us. Pathetic, I know. But that was how it was.  Entertainment City was a rare treat since it was pretty far from Salwah. If I remember it correctly, it was close to the Iraqi border. But correct me here if I'm wrong.

My mom learned how to make wine by using apple cider.  Actually, most expats did. Whenever there were get-togethers,they would each bring their own creations and share tips on how to increase the alcohol content. 

My mother found it very difficult to cope. She couldn't go out on her own, she was often gawked at by the men even though she wore long skirts to cover her legs. I remember she would tighten her grip on my hand when the cat calls in Arabic started (I assume that's what they were) and 'that look' they gave her, and this was just a trip to the corner store. 

There's one particular thread here in the Kuwait forum asking how one made friends there.  If you're finding it difficult now, it was much more difficult during my parents' time. There were no forums like this, no Internet and Skype.  Most expats depended on their sponsoring companies for social activities. Or, for trailing spouses like my mother, she networked with the other mothers at my school.

Anyway, if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading. I was compelled to share the Kuwait of yesteryear because inspite of the negative things about Kuwait, I have fond memories of that country.  I spent my formative years there.  I saw it slowly develop from being a segregated society in the early 80's (men and women were not allowed to stand in the same line) to a more integrated (gender-wise) modern society.  It was a privelege to watch a nation reap its new found wealth (from oil, obviously) by building itself as a modern nation in every aspect-physically, culturally and socially. It was as if I was growing up with Kuwait, if that makes any sense.

I am 34 years old now and have been curious how this country, "my first country," has developed.  It sounds like not much has changed on the social/labor front from what I gather on all responses to this post. That's very sad.

To Sherafghan:

I am a Kuwaiti gentleman that just happened on this forum. I decided to register to give other readers a more balanced view than yours which possibly may have been negatively affected by some teething problems associated with your move to Kuwait. Is it possible that your few bad experiences set you against Kuwait so badly? Or that you may have some other issues (e.g. job not up to expectation, etc.)that made you hate Kuwait so much?

You make it sound like Kuwait is hell on earth and that the locals are just plain awful, with the exception of the few that "are the exceptions to the norm". I work with many expats (including Indians) in a professional setting and all are treated with respect. So many Kuwaitis are decent people who work hard, take care of their families and have expat friends or colleagues.

You say that some citizens receive second-class treatment. This is true sometimes but did you know that ALL citizens receive a government job if they desire one, free housing, a rental allowance, free education, free health care (including intensive care) and an allowance for each child. Also, you will excuse my saying so but don't they have a class of people in India known as the "untouchables"?

You then go on to say that Kuwait is like an "impoverished third world country". I may be biased because I am a Kuwaiti, but believe me I have traveled to a few third world countries and they look nothing like Kuwait.

I personally think that you did not get what you bargained for in Kuwait or else have some other issues to contend with and so decided to take it all out on Kuwait (hint: sometimes its best to look inward than to project outward).

Although Kuwait is in no way perfect, we Kuwaitis and I assure you a lot of expats like it here and enjoy a very good life. Best of luck with finding your nirvana!

Hey guys,
I was in Kuwait in summer of O8 to visit my families who live there. I personally, noticed the segregation among other people who lived there particularly on people who are from eastern Asia. 
Personally, I was treated great, considering I am half ameircan half arab. Also if were to be treated poorly, I would never come to Kuwait. 
I think that it’s sad how an Islamic country can be so racist and arrogant. I was saddened to witness hardworking laborers to be treated like dirt by some Kuwaitis. I never witnessed such acts in the States.

With all of the bad things said about Kuwait people keep coming. I don't see the TCN folks running for the border because of ill treatment. If it's so bad go back home or find a new Gulf country because no matter what anyone says people keep on coming. Considering there are millions of Asian people looking for jobs I doubt immigration to Kuwait will cease. The movie slumdog millionaire gave me a look at India and Kuwait is a paradise compared to there. Just read the newspapers and see how corrupt expats are with murder, rape and robbery.

The Asian population have developed serious attitudes recently towards people. They are as rude as anyone else. They screw up the highways with their driving. My sister was waiting for her husband in the car and one Indian guy decided to pee in front of her. How disrespectful is that? They were in Sultan center and one Indian guy decided to swipe his and accross her butt and her Kuwaiti husband beat the crap out of him.

The single guys are so rude and stare. They have no concept of taking a shower and using soap. If you decide to be nice to them they just want more. I moved out of my apt and had some extra items that I gave to the Indian mover. He kept insisting on taking more stuff then he tried to charge me a ridiculous amount because I'm American. The reason Kuwaiti people treat others like crap is if they give you people one inch you want a mile.

Sometimes I feel sorry for them, that is until I go out and I'm stared at by some gross worker guy. Obviously you are not taught respect. I've worked with some guys who fart, burp,blow snot out of their noses without using a tissue and spit like nothing. That's disgusting. If you don't like it leave as there are 100 million others waiting for your position. Easy come easy go.

NicoleB wrote:

Some glimpses of Kuwait ........[/url]

You see these pictures in all countries, there is no one complete,AND THER IS MANY GOOD THING IN KUWAIT TOO.

kuwaiti girl wrote:

NicoleB wrote:

Some glimpses of Kuwait ........

You see these pictures in all countries, there is no one complete,AND THER IS MANY GOOD THING IN KUWAIT TOO.

Indeed there is & I apologize for not showing it. During those days I was a little bit on the negative side.
Sometimes it is easy to slide down and only think negative.
We are back in Kuwait and I am glad about it.
I could in the meantime, add one more country to my list of experiences and honestly, I currently prefer Kuwait over the last one
One can find negative things & negative experiences everywhere. I have heard horror stories from my home country regarding employment and it's getting worse by the month.

So to balance my other photos, here some more beautiful ones:

Kuwait has a big variety of beautiful birds. I love birdwatching & this is a real Gem for birdlovers




Beaches
One at Fahaheel, but there are many more


Nature & wildlife and recreation on Failaka island


with ancient Greek ruins


Nature



Interesting places, malls and architecture to visit:

The Kuwait towers:


View from the towers




The Scientific center:


The dhow harbor at Souq Sharq


with the Liberation tower in the background


The Calligraphy museum:



Beautiful mosques:
The Grand mosque


Mosque in Fahaheel


Lots of things you can do:
Jetski in Salmiya for example




Fishing


Edit to say:
There's much more to see, couldn't list it all in one post

Last edited by NicoleB (2010-07-29 06:40:00)