The Sandbox Today

Locally... Not a lot happening. It is a beautiful, warm and sunny day. Won't be too long and I will be out there "working" full-time again.

A young girl, 11 years old, is currently in the custody of her mother "as a precautionary measure while investigations continue" after allegedly being repeatedly raped by her father and brother. It was a teacher at the little girl's school who noticed that something was amiss, "that the girl was withdrawn in class." Worst part of the story? The mother KNEW that her daughter was being repeatedly raped by her "estranged" husband and her son and did nothing about it because she was afraid! Not that this doesn't happen in other parts of the world - it probably does. Still it is just sick, sick, sick.

Fixing the working hours of maids from 10AM to 5PM is never gonna happen. Not that it is a bad idea... But I doubt very much that many families here are going to be willing to basically eliminate what amounts to slavery. And those hours, 10AM to 5PM? Nope. The article says "that fixed working hours for maids will go a long way in changing lifestyles especially of those who need domestic helpers late at night. A majority of Saudi families dine late at night making it difficult for them to fix specific working hours for housemaids." Eat earlier. Problem solved.