I hope to be able to dance as good as this someday...enjoy!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
June and July, my, how time flies!
Summer has officially been in full swing here in Kuwait for about the past month, with temperatures soaring into the 50's! Every couple days I try to keep up with the news back home in Calgary and when I went on the Calgary Herald website last week, they had a poll they were wanting readers to fill out. The question was: "How will you survive the current heat wave Calgary is experiencing?" My North American friends, you don't even know the true meaning of heat wave until you have spent the summer in Kuwait, I think it is safe to say this is the hottest place on earth most days!
June and July can both be summed up as months of transition, both for my family and myself. In June, my dad officially finished a huge chapter in his life. It was hard not to be in Calgary during this time. Especially for the farewell night they held in honour of my parents! But, luckily, I have friends who were on the inside of this evening, who asked me to put together a short video message to be played for them at some point during the evening. I was so excited to be able to be a part of this special night from so far away. I spent a good week thinking about what I wanted to say about my parent, what I remember about them. It was fun to be able to go through all the memories of our family together and choose some to share with everyone. My parents called me after the farewell and they were so surprised! I think even a few tears were cried *jackpot! haha*. So now, a new adventure starts for my parents and our family. And don't worry Rockpointe, my parents may be gone, but i'll still be sticking around.
June also means people here in Kuwait start to leave for the summer. Now that it is July, I can understand why no one would want to spend the summer here! Every week people are saying their goodbyes until they come back in the fall. It is very strange to see everyone leave, but still be here. It has also meant that my activities here are starting to slow down, so I have been able to challenge myself to find new things and projects to work on every week. I have become a lot more involved in the Trash to Treasure project, since leadership has now been handed over to my mentor. I also officially finished my last class for my Diploma with Rocky Mountain College at the end of June! Although the satisfaction of being done with school was short lived as I have now decided to go back to school in September when I get back to Canada and finish a degree! A bit scary, but I am also super excited about this! And overall, doing this will enable my to go further and become more skilled in the international work I wish to pursue!
July has been an interesting month. It started off really slow, but is now starting to pick up again. I have been doing a lot of organizing and helping get things here in Kuwait prepared for September when people start to come back and everything in Kuwait starts up again. I have also been paying a lot more attention to the news in Canada this month as July brought with it the Royal couple and the CALGARY STAMPEDE! It has been fun to live vicariously through all the news articles and photos and see the excitement everyone in Canada seems to be having during this time.
So there you have it, a brief summary of what has been happening these last couple weeks. It has been hard to get used to the fact that no one goes outside here during the summer. I am so used to living or visiting places in the summer where you can go out and explore and be free! But here, it is so hot that it is almost dangerous to go outside. You instantly become drained of all energy and prolonged time in this heat is just not good for your body. Basically, if you are going out somewhere, you try to go from one air conditioned space to the next with minimal outdoor exposure. This has all made me very grateful for 2 things, 1) growing up in a country where summer means being outside and 2) air conditioning.
Well, I am off to prepare for my next little adventure. I have to renew my visa one more time which means getting to choose a country to go visit for a couple days so that I can stay in Kuwait a bit longer! Stay tooned to find out where I went! =)
Oh and ps. My sister got engaged this past weekend! Congrats Steph and Martin!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
A bit of what happens in Kuwait..
This article was in the Kuwait Times, one of the local English papers, last week. It gives a great and informative look into some of the situations maids deal with while working here. It is important to remember that not all maids are facing employment situations such as this. Some are treated very well, but this is an example of a case of extremity.
KUWAIT: A Philippine Embassy labor official was attacked by five assailants at the embassy's premises on Sunday night whilst defending two Filipina housemaids who escaped from their abusive employers' home shortly before. The labor official was on duty at the Filipino housemaid shelter in Jabriya at the time of the attack. The five male assailants - three adults and two teenagers - who were identified by the women as members of their employers' families - rushed to the embassy upon discovering that the mai
ds had fled. The two housemaids arrived in a taxi minutes after the assailants.
On seeing the employers arguing with embassy staff at the gate, the two traumatized women attempted to rush inside the embassy, but were prevented from doing so by the five men, who grabbed the women by their hair and punched them in the heads and stomachs in front of horrified embassy personnel. The assailants then announced that two women were 'their' housemaids, accusing the women of stealing money from the family's home.
The commotion continued for a few minutes, with the five attackers then directing their rage at the embassy official who was guarding the gate and protecting the housemaids. The man was badly beaten, sustaining heavy bruising and swelling to his body and forehead.
The two women escaped from their employer's house in Jabriya at around 9:00 pm on Sunday, risking their lives by using an improvised rope made by tying blankets and bed sheets together to lower themselves to the ground from a third-floor room. The two traumatized housemaids, identified only by their nicknames "Jenny" and "Maria", were effectively imprisoned by their employers, locked inside the family's home for months.
Maria, 31, had not been paid since she began her second stint working for the family in January this year, whilst Jenny, 28, had been unpaid since starting work there three months later, in April. The two assert that they were regularly subjected to brutal abuse, torture and beatings by both the male sponsor and his wife.
Both of them hit us, especially when there was something wrong with our jobs; they would beat us using belts and cooking pans or whatever hard objects they could find close to them," recalled Maria. "They would also hit our head against the concrete wall. The 'mama' hates dust or any tiny amount of dirt on the table; I think, we scrubbed their house more than 100 times a day. I also used to wash clothes with bare hands so I have this allergy to chemicals. Really, we were suffering severely in that house a
nd we couldn't take it anymore, that is why we just decided to escape in whatever way we could.
Maria explained that she was first hired as a maid by the family in late 2009, although during her first stint with them, she was paid regularly. Since her first week working for them, she endured hard slaps and beatings, with another Filipina housemaid, "Leah", who began working there towards the end of 2010, enduring similar physical and verbal abuse. Leah, after two months of abuse and having received no pay, eventually convinced Maria to attempt escape with her.
During their attempt, however, using an improvised rope, Maria slipped and fell to the ground, breaking a leg. Although the maids managed to get away and Maria was taken to hospital, the employers subsequently filed a case against the traumatized women, accusing them of theft, an accusation which both categorically denied.
In January, whilst Maria were recovering at the embassy's refuge, her erstwhile employers visited the embassy and set about persuading Maria that they regretted their abusive treatment and wished for her to return. Reluctant but desperate for money, Maria went back to work for them. Leah remained unconvinced of their remorse and chose instead to remain at the refuge where she is still living pending the outcome of the theft case.
Maria quickly discovered that her sponsors' promises of kind treatment were wholly false, with the abusive employers redoubling their maltreatment in revenge for her escape. The three months until Jenny's arrival in April were an endless stream of abuse and backbreaking hard work, with Jenny also receiving the same treatment from the moment of her arrival until the two women fled.
I haven't been paid since I began working for this family in April," Jenny told Kuwait Times. "Every day we used to be addressed with cruel words, beaten and sworn at. They even told us that they could kill us at any time without anyone knowing about it. We used to work from 5:00 am until 2:00 am the next morning." As one example of the treatment they received, Jenny said, "We only had very little food - we ate once a day.
Both flatly rejected the sponsors' theft accusations against them. "How could we steal?" asked Jenny. "It was never true. We heard them saying if they wanted to create a problem against us [they could]; they told us that the authorities here would believe them rather than us. And how could we 'steal' money when in fact they weren't giving us our salaries for months?!
The Philippine Labor Attache to Kuwait, David Des Dicang, has promised to pursue the case of his country's mistreated workers. He said that he would take legal action against the five assailants for trespassing and assault on Filipino embassy personnel. "The case will be pursued till the end," he vowed. "The embassy, under the leadership of our ambassador, Shulan Primavera, is mandated to protect and defend our workers.
The embassy official who was beaten up at our premises will be dealt accordingly. We are happy that we have an official like him who can defend our workers when necessary. He tried to protect our workers and he was beaten up because of that. It is also totally unacceptable since it happened inside our own premises. The case is now in the prosecutor's office.
On the assailants' abuse of the housemaids, Dicang said that their case would be handled with the proper seriousness. "We will pursue not just their employer but we'll see in what way we can act against their local recruitment agency and hold them accountable," he said. He asserted that there are many questions left unanswered: "Why was the employer able to re-hire runaway housemaids despite his bad records?" he asked, adding "We will review all the possible angles until real justice is served.
Abusive sponsors attack official at maids' shelter
KUWAIT: A Philippine Embassy labor official was attacked by five assailants at the embassy's premises on Sunday night whilst defending two Filipina housemaids who escaped from their abusive employers' home shortly before. The labor official was on duty at the Filipino housemaid shelter in Jabriya at the time of the attack. The five male assailants - three adults and two teenagers - who were identified by the women as members of their employers' families - rushed to the embassy upon discovering that the mai
ds had fled. The two housemaids arrived in a taxi minutes after the assailants.
On seeing the employers arguing with embassy staff at the gate, the two traumatized women attempted to rush inside the embassy, but were prevented from doing so by the five men, who grabbed the women by their hair and punched them in the heads and stomachs in front of horrified embassy personnel. The assailants then announced that two women were 'their' housemaids, accusing the women of stealing money from the family's home.
The commotion continued for a few minutes, with the five attackers then directing their rage at the embassy official who was guarding the gate and protecting the housemaids. The man was badly beaten, sustaining heavy bruising and swelling to his body and forehead.
The two women escaped from their employer's house in Jabriya at around 9:00 pm on Sunday, risking their lives by using an improvised rope made by tying blankets and bed sheets together to lower themselves to the ground from a third-floor room. The two traumatized housemaids, identified only by their nicknames "Jenny" and "Maria", were effectively imprisoned by their employers, locked inside the family's home for months.
Maria, 31, had not been paid since she began her second stint working for the family in January this year, whilst Jenny, 28, had been unpaid since starting work there three months later, in April. The two assert that they were regularly subjected to brutal abuse, torture and beatings by both the male sponsor and his wife.
Both of them hit us, especially when there was something wrong with our jobs; they would beat us using belts and cooking pans or whatever hard objects they could find close to them," recalled Maria. "They would also hit our head against the concrete wall. The 'mama' hates dust or any tiny amount of dirt on the table; I think, we scrubbed their house more than 100 times a day. I also used to wash clothes with bare hands so I have this allergy to chemicals. Really, we were suffering severely in that house a
nd we couldn't take it anymore, that is why we just decided to escape in whatever way we could.
Maria explained that she was first hired as a maid by the family in late 2009, although during her first stint with them, she was paid regularly. Since her first week working for them, she endured hard slaps and beatings, with another Filipina housemaid, "Leah", who began working there towards the end of 2010, enduring similar physical and verbal abuse. Leah, after two months of abuse and having received no pay, eventually convinced Maria to attempt escape with her.
During their attempt, however, using an improvised rope, Maria slipped and fell to the ground, breaking a leg. Although the maids managed to get away and Maria was taken to hospital, the employers subsequently filed a case against the traumatized women, accusing them of theft, an accusation which both categorically denied.
In January, whilst Maria were recovering at the embassy's refuge, her erstwhile employers visited the embassy and set about persuading Maria that they regretted their abusive treatment and wished for her to return. Reluctant but desperate for money, Maria went back to work for them. Leah remained unconvinced of their remorse and chose instead to remain at the refuge where she is still living pending the outcome of the theft case.
Maria quickly discovered that her sponsors' promises of kind treatment were wholly false, with the abusive employers redoubling their maltreatment in revenge for her escape. The three months until Jenny's arrival in April were an endless stream of abuse and backbreaking hard work, with Jenny also receiving the same treatment from the moment of her arrival until the two women fled.
I haven't been paid since I began working for this family in April," Jenny told Kuwait Times. "Every day we used to be addressed with cruel words, beaten and sworn at. They even told us that they could kill us at any time without anyone knowing about it. We used to work from 5:00 am until 2:00 am the next morning." As one example of the treatment they received, Jenny said, "We only had very little food - we ate once a day.
Both flatly rejected the sponsors' theft accusations against them. "How could we steal?" asked Jenny. "It was never true. We heard them saying if they wanted to create a problem against us [they could]; they told us that the authorities here would believe them rather than us. And how could we 'steal' money when in fact they weren't giving us our salaries for months?!
The Philippine Labor Attache to Kuwait, David Des Dicang, has promised to pursue the case of his country's mistreated workers. He said that he would take legal action against the five assailants for trespassing and assault on Filipino embassy personnel. "The case will be pursued till the end," he vowed. "The embassy, under the leadership of our ambassador, Shulan Primavera, is mandated to protect and defend our workers.
The embassy official who was beaten up at our premises will be dealt accordingly. We are happy that we have an official like him who can defend our workers when necessary. He tried to protect our workers and he was beaten up because of that. It is also totally unacceptable since it happened inside our own premises. The case is now in the prosecutor's office.
On the assailants' abuse of the housemaids, Dicang said that their case would be handled with the proper seriousness. "We will pursue not just their employer but we'll see in what way we can act against their local recruitment agency and hold them accountable," he said. He asserted that there are many questions left unanswered: "Why was the employer able to re-hire runaway housemaids despite his bad records?" he asked, adding "We will review all the possible angles until real justice is served.
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