Just a couple of things, locally...
A lot of "pirated items" have been seized... Good that the authorities are out there hunting this "stuff" down. Not to make light of it, because pirating is a crime, but perhaps if the resources used to track down pirated items were put into traffic control there would be a whole lot less road carnage. Just a thought...
Hmm... Is this a single, isolated incident, or is there something more sinister going on? How is it that only one person has been poisoned? If the bottled water was really contaminated, would there not be many others that wound up being hospitalized?
A Saudi woman that allegedly killed her husband - eight years ago - has been sentenced to be beheaded...
And, this. I'm not going to dissect the entire article - just most of it!
"The presence of a housemaid in a Saudi house has become inevitable. If this inevitability is not because of her services, then it is because of the need to imitate others. This is a fact that everybody knows. The need for housemaids is connected to the ways Saudis live - women go to work, responsibilities for the social and educational welfare of children, men failing to help with house duties, few day-care facilities for children, large and spacious homes, extended families and increasing numbers of children."
[Wretching!!!] Let me just start with that... I'd be more willing than not to say that the need for housemaids has to do more with the "need to imitate others" than what services are actually needed. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses' - it is, to a degree, just part of human nature. At least there was some honesty in that statement. As far as the need being "connected to the ways Saudis live?" Just stop it. Get over yourself! Women all over the world live the exact same way and they don't need housemaids! Ut-uh. Calling B.S. on that. You've brought it upon yourselves...
"The net result is that the majority of families need to have housemaids. The truth of the matter is that some of us need more than one housemaid. The problem does not lie in hiring a housemaid, but the problems these housemaids possibly bring to the home." Gimme a f'ng break... No. The majority of families do not "need" housemaids, they "want" housemaids. Needing more than one? You have obviously stretched yourself beyond your means - and probably in more ways from one. Did Saudis in days long past, before oil dollars elevated the lifestyle and moved families from out of a tent and into a McMansion, require more than one maid? Yeah. Didn't think so.
Moving on...
"Some of these problems are difficult to deal with, especially when they relate to the murder or abuse of children. Some of these crimes, such as thefts and absconding maids, can be surpassed." Interesting that there is mention whatsoever of the abuse that many household maids and domestic help is forced to endure and suffer... None. Whatsoever.
Gosh. Imagine that. An article written in complete and utter copycat style of the New York Times. Totally ONE-SIDED!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sabra - we are in fact one of those families that truly need a maid. When we lived in a flat, we didn't necessarily need her other than to watch our little one while I was at work. Now that we've moved to a big villa, not only do I need one, I'm getting a second one. It is hard work keeping up with a big house and honestly I can't do it. I don't want one, but I have no choice, really. I have been as stubborn as can be with the hub and he is sitting here with a good and ready muthania, yet I'm dreading the whole idea. I don't deal well with strangers in my home, much less one to live with me that will end up ruining most of my stuff. I'd love to go back to the life we had before in the states where cleaning wasn't a 2x daily thing, but we're here now and we'd never get the opportunity to have what we have here over there.
ReplyDeleteBut, I do get where you are coming from. Our maid is there for a purpose. She doesn't raise our kids, she is an employee in our home (that is treated quite well and is really taken care of). Many (and most in my hubs family) are there to clean, cook, and raise the kids while the mom either sleeps or goes to the salon. It's heartbreaking - not only for the maid to be so overworked, but for the kid because they get a new 'mom' about every two years. Can you imagine the behavioral issues these kids have? That's a post in and of itself...
Not dismissing the fact that "we'd never get the opportunity to have what we have here over there," and in fact, am in full agreement L_O. But you'll never be able to convince me that two full-time maids are needed. Sorry. Perhaps the better term would be "house keepers." I need one as well - but do I really? We have a very small house. VERY SMALL. Yes, I could do the work here, myself, but WANT - as opposed to NEED - someone else to do it - the heavy cleaning, anyway. I'm am not discounting that many maids are well treated and/or compensated, but what the article neglects is those that are not. Just for giggles... Put the shoes on the other foot... Imagine you were not in the position you and your Hub are in, but in fact, living in some third-world country where you had to go off - far from home - and live with another family to do all of their household / domestic chores. Would you, do you think, feel as strongly about this as you do wearing the shoe on the foot you are able to wear it right now? Just food for thought...
ReplyDelete