Going Saudi first

World Immigration

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Relevant information because the OP is from the Philippines:

Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: A Deafening Silence (Human Rights Watch Backgrounder, December 2001)

"The country's six to seven million foreign workers -- most of them from India, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Bangladesh -- face a variety of restrictions. They must surrender their passports to Saudi sponsors, limiting their freedom of movement, and they are denied the right to form trade unions, strike or engage in collective bargaining. Conditions are particularly harsh for foreign women who work as domestics for Saudi families. Over 19,000 women domestics fled their employers last year, according to Saudi labor ministry official Awad al-Radadi. The women cited mistreatment and nonpayment of wages as among the reasons. The Philippines' ambassador to Saudi Arabia reported to his government, according to Business World (Manila), that many Filipino workers there were "forcedly subjected to poor living conditions, salary underpayment, insufficient food, inhuman working conditions, and long hours or work without rest or day off."

Bold emphasis above is mine. I think it is noteworthy that it is very Western to embrace multiculturalism, however sometimes we don't realize that the openness it is not reciprocal. I scratch my head at what I speculate to be cognitive dissonance regarding the notion that it is a beautiful country. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I've never been off of the North American continent - so there could be something I'm missing.

Another news article: being female could mean you burn to death in a building fire:

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue

I don't care how isolated the above incident may be - I would not feel safe in this country.

blueyesue

566 Posts

Yes, they live under Sharia Law. In fact if you steal you can get your right hand chopped off. Another form of punishment is public flogging. It is definitely NOT ideal. It is also the hardest country to get into. They do have areas where it is not so strict though. I pray one day this law will vanish.

Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Yes, they live under Sharia Law. In fact if you steal you can get your right hand chopped off. Another form of punishment is public flogging. It is definitely NOT ideal. It is also the hardest country to get into. They do have areas where it is not so strict though. I pray one day this law will vanish.

I think it's important for non-Muslim's to understand what it means to live under Sharia law. Under Sharia law, as in Saudi Arabia, non-Muslim's do not have have same rights and basic human worth as Muslims. For example, in a Saudi Sharia court, a non-Muslim's testimony is worth only a fraction compared to a Muslim's. Now if you are a female non-Muslim under Sharia law - worth even less.

I need to clarify so that people don't think I'm talking out of my butt.

My brother is fluent in Arabic and travels and works for the US on a diplomatic passport. He has lived in Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and has travelled the region extensively, including to the Israeli territories, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. He is currently in Cairo. I have been to Egypt and would go back without hesitation.

The only place he was ever frightened was in Saudi Arabia.

Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

I think it's important to note that there are probably many wonderful Saudi citizens who aren't representative of what I posted above. Probably the more educated ones. It's the pervasive fundamentalism and Sharia law that scares me.

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN

49 Articles; 5,349 Posts

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Saudi Arabia currently has one of the worst records of all countries on human rights and there is no freedom of religion. Christians in particular are targeted for abuse, discrimination, and persecution.

Persecution can be especially brutal to Indian or Filipino foreign nationals temporarily residing in the Kingdom:

Christian Persecution in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Christian Persecution Profile

Beware...

GardenDove

962 Posts

Thank you Vicky for posting that. We Americans try hard to be tolerant, and, yes, there are many wonderful Muslim people. But let's not let our natural tendency to think the best of those who differ from us to blind us to the glaring human rights problems in Saudi Arabia. A Filipina woman will not have the world's only superpower to back her up.

Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Saudi Arabia: execution of Nigerian men and women - Amnesty International

"Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of capital punishment in the world. Of the 766 executions recorded by Amnesty International between 1990 and 1999, over half were of migrant workers and other foreign nationals.

Saudi Arabia has expanded the scope of the death penalty to cover a wide range of offences, including offences without lethal consequences such as apostasy, drug dealing, sodomy and ''witchcraft''. The scores of people who are executed every year, many for non-violent crimes, are put to death after summary trials that offer them no opportunity to defend themselves and almost no protection against miscarriages of justice.

Execution is by public beheading for men and, according to reports, by firing squad or beheading for women, sometimes in public. Foreign nationals are sometimes not even aware that they have been sentenced to death and neither they nor their families are warned in advance of the date of execution. They are rarely if ever allowed to see their loved ones before they are executed."

weetziebat

775 Posts

Well, the OP hasn't been back and it now seems to be a battle between the rest of us. :D I really don't want to fight about it - every country has good and bad. If you search around you can find facts to back up just about any opinion.

Personally, I loved the time I spent in Saudi Arabia. They spend a fortune to keep it amazingly green, have a cool mountainous portion of the country, the breathtaking oasis at Hofuf where there must be hundreds of acres of palm trees, the Red Sea has fantastic diving, beautiful beaches on the Persian gulf - and, no, you won't find anyone in bathing suits lying on the sand - but no one stops you from taking off your shoes, rolling up your slacks and wading up to your knees. Nor did I have on my abaya or head scarf. Just slacks and a tee shirt.

Everywhere is air-conditioned, and (I swear I'm telling the truth) I never met a Saudi who was anything less than friendly, respectful and willing to go out of their way to be helpful. Oh, except that one old man who was a sitter for his grandson at the hospital. He grabbed at my chest and when I told the Saudi interpreter, all hell broke loose. They grabbed the guy and four Saudi men lit into him about how wrong that was and gave him a 20 minute lecture, then made him apologize to me.

If you read American statistics on murders, rapes and violent crime it would scare the bravest person. And, for all our freedoms, we fear walking alone at night in any large city. That is a fear my friends and I never felt in Riyadh. Maybe cause they behead murderers, rapists and drug dealers.

Just my :twocents: .

rn/writer, RN

9 Articles; 4,168 Posts

Well, the OP hasn't been back and it now seems to be a battle between the rest of us. :D I really don't want to fight about it - every country has good and bad. If you search around you can find facts to back up just about any opinion.

Personally, I loved the time I spent in Saudi Arabia. They spend a fortune to keep it amazingly green, have a cool mountainous portion of the country, the breathtaking oasis at Hofuf where there must be hundreds of acres of palm trees, the Red Sea has fantastic diving, beautiful beaches on the Persian gulf - and, no, you won't find anyone in bathing suits lying on the sand - but no one stops you from taking off your shoes, rolling up your slacks and wading up to your knees. Nor did I have on my abaya or head scarf. Just slacks and a tee shirt.

Everywhere is air-conditioned, and (I swear I'm telling the truth) I never met a Saudi who was anything less than friendly, respectful and willing to go out of their way to be helpful. Oh, except that one old man who was a sitter for his grandson at the hospital. He grabbed at my chest and when I told the Saudi interpreter, all hell broke loose. They grabbed the guy and four Saudi men lit into him about how wrong that was and gave him a 20 minute lecture, then made him apologize to me.

If you read American statistics on murders, rapes and violent crime it would scare the bravest person. And, for all our freedoms, we fear walking alone at night in any large city. That is a fear my friends and I never felt in Riyadh. Maybe cause they behead murderers, rapists and drug dealers.

Just my :twocents: .

It's good to hear that you had a positive experience. The OP might find herself more vulnerable being from the Phillipines. She has much to consider before making a year-long committment.

weetziebat

775 Posts

It's good to hear that you had a positive experience. The OP might find herself more vulnerable being from the Phillipines. She has much to consider before making a year-long committment.

I agree that anyone would have much to consider moving half way round the world to any country, but the statistics you read about Filippinos having problems in Saudi are the uneducated folks who take jobs as housemaids, nannies etc. - where they live in the families home and are subject to the families rules and way of life.

Many times they are taken advantage of by the segment of the population who feels women coming abroad alone are sort of like property. There are many cases of kidnapped women from abroad being kept hostage even in the U.S.

The nurses working in hospitals are in a far different situation. But I'm tired of trying to point out that everyone is welcomed to their own opinion. Was just telling Barbie my experience as I lived there for eight years. Certainly no one is forced to go there, and the decision is entirely up to her.

And folks, I am OUT of these Saudi posts. Many people see only what they want to and that's fine with me.

Good luck with whatever you decide, Barbie.

Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
I agree that anyone would have much to consider moving half way round the world to any country, but the statistics you read about Filippinos having problems in Saudi are the uneducated folks who take jobs as housemaids, nannies etc. - where they live in the families home and are subject to the families rules and way of life.

Many times they are taken advantage of by the segment of the population who feels women coming abroad alone are sort of like property. There are many cases of kidnapped women from abroad being kept hostage even in the U.S.

The nurses working in hospitals are in a far different situation. But I'm tired of trying to point out that everyone is welcomed to their own opinion. Was just telling Barbie my experience as I lived there for eight years. Certainly no one is forced to go there, and the decision is entirely up to her.

And folks, I am OUT of these Saudi posts. Many people see only what they want to and that's fine with me.

Good luck with whatever you decide, Barbie.

Weetzie,

I'm sorry that you don't like our responses. Maybe you don't feel respected for your first-hand experience. I'm sorry for that.

I tried to acknowledge that while I hold my opinions, I also stated that I've never been off of the North American continent. I was trying to give a nod to you that you've actually been there.

I'm sure that my aunt and uncle's experience living there in the 90's has contributed to my opinions. My uncle is an engineer. They lived in Kuwait and also Saudi Arabia during his engineering contract work for a few years. My aunt who is Caucasian spoke about how she was harassed by the religious police at times. For example, if her arms were showing too much in a restaurant, etc. They lived in a quite nice compound for the foreign engineers. My aunt was afraid there. She said Saudi Arabia scared her the most of any of the Middle-East countries that they had lived and worked in.

I think we should be able to state our opinions - both sides and all of the shades of gray. While I understand that you had a good experience, I can't feel good about a country that doesn't allow women to participate as full citizens and operates under fundamentalist Sharia law. We should be able to all share our opinions and still hold respect in the picture.

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