Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Just a couple of things...

Whoa. What a surprise to open the paper and see this. Authorities are looking at suicides, here. Didn't I ask yesterday when someone was going to? Yes. I did. I'm pretty sure I've posted on it in the past, as well - the fact that there is a problem and that someone needs to be addressing it. I know I had a comment left, at my site, on one post, that said something like "too bad they can't do a psychological test for the men and women coming here to work that could determine their ability and stability to be able handle life..." Those are not the exact words, but the gist of what was conveyed. Some sort of "test" to ascertain ones mental state might not be such a bad idea. There are many of us - foreigners - in the Middle East, and I can vouch for the fact that uprooting and moving to another country is NOT an easy thing to do. But, I say this, from a Western woman's point of view, knowing that I have it incredibly easy compared to what is in store for the Sri Lankan or Indonesian housemaid. Ditto for DH who has it "made in the shade" compared to the men who are imported from other countries that come here to work and toil under harsh conditions for meager sums of money. And although I don't have the solution to the problem of men and women coming here and realizing that life is just not worth continuing any longer, at least the authorities are giving the matter some attention and that is good.

This disturbs me. It is not a "local" problem, per se. I've been drinking water out of plastic bottles for years - but much, much more of it since I've been here in the Sandbox. I don't leave the house without my bottle of water. I usually have a couple of them opened and scattered about during the day while I am IN the house. At night - if I haven't grabbed a bottle of water before I crawl under the covers - I get up out of bed to go and get one. Everyone - and I mean everyone - here drinks bottled water. You cannot drink the water that comes out of the tap - the regular tap. On our compound there are two taps at the kitchen sink - just the kitchen - not in the bathrooms - one is the regular, tap water - which is NOT safe to drink, and the other is a "sweet water" tap, which is safe to drink. Although I don't drink the "sweet water," I do make coffee with it, use it for cooking, and to brush my teeth. Supposedly our dishwashers are hooked up to the sweet water so plates, silverware, cups and glasses are not being cleaned in water that isn't safe to drink. And, when I wash pots and pans, I use the regular tap water and then rinse them in the sweet water. Back to the bottled water... I know I drink a lot of bottled water. The "little guys" out there working carry their bottles of water around with them. Most of us, here, are drinking bottled water. So, what else could water be put in, other than plastic, so that the risk of heart disease and diabetes would be lessened? Glass? No. I do NOT want to see water put in glass bottles until people can be responsible enough to properly dispose of the bottles - and they just aren't - here. There is more than enough broken glass that my Kids and I must watch out for and maneuver around as we do our daily jaunts. Glass containers would be an absolute disaster, here! So, then, cans? Why doesn't water come in cans? Is it more expensive to put a beverage in a can than in plastic? Probably. Although I don't know that for a fact. Would the water taste like aluminum? Maybe. But I think I'd rather have water that tastes funny than heart disease or diabetes. I'm doomed. This is going to bother me. My lifestyle is already unhealthy enough, and now I have to worry about plastic bottles...

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