I tend to think of myself as pretty jaded, as I take most things in stride. Something has to be pretty "out there" for me to be flabbergasted (yup, I used that word lol). But having said that, this article that I came across on the L.A. Times shocked me. I don't know... I don't like to think of myself as naive, but the fact that the reality on the ground is what it is makes it a bit hard for me to take in.
The above article is about Saudi women who live in such abject poverty that the option of working as housemaids in Qatar is a preferred alternative.
Let me say though that the LA Times article is based on an Al-Arabiya segment, which, in my eyes, takes away from its credibility because I tend to think of Al-Arabiya as a news channel that has a tendency to sensationalize issues, with a penchant for creating a mountain out of a molehill, and whose credibility has been questioned on various occasions.
Regardless, the reality is the same, and it breaks my heart. As an Omani, I strongly believe that all work is noble, no matter what the work is, or how blue-collar it may be. Good, honest work is good honest work, period. But for a Gulf citizen, one who resides in one of the richest regions in the world, to have to leave home and hearth, to move to another country in order to survive on minimum wage, while our Region's rich pump over USD 9 billion in one year into London's tourism economy... there's something wrong with this picture. When are we going to wake up?
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