Shortcomings of Capitalism

Interspersed among highly paid westerners on our compound is an army of South-Asian laborers clad in different colored overalls, each color representing their department. Grounds keepers are in green, street cleaners in yellow, maintenance in brown, waste management in orange, etc. The difference in income between them and those they serve is staggering, as many of them earn just over $100 a month. Since most of them are also supporting families in their native countries they find creative ways to supplement their income.

One way is to jump at every garage sale that comes up on the compound (presumably to resell purchases at higher prices). As my wife will testify, being a savvy bargain shopper herself, each of these garage sales start with a frenzy as workers clamor to take advantage of the best deals. It seems that what we find as a weekend hobby, is to them a struggle for survival.

Another method of survival is "freelance" labor. One of the perks here is quick service when things break down. We've had our washer worked on, lawn installed, roof repaired, front gate replaced, water heater repaired, etc. - all for free, courtesy of the company. Other services, such as gardening, house cleaning, chauffeuring, painting, etc. can be arranged at modest rates by calling the appropriate department who will then send out one of these contract laborers to do the work. This is all very organized and efficient, but the workers themselves do everything they can to circumnavigate the system to get paid directly. This is done in a variety of ways. Most of the time it's just outright solicitation, and a very hurt and dejected look when it is politely refused. Otherwise, if they have been sent out to do some work on the house, they will finish their assigned work and ask if there is anything else they can do. If we say "no" they will insist on giving their own personal contact information, should we change our minds. It seems obvious that they anticipate more generous compensation directly from us than what they normally get from the company they work for. Once we had a guy come to our house with a measuring wheel, insisting that he needed to measure the land around our house in preparation for planting our promised lawn. After I led him and his associate through the house to grant them access to the back yard, I watched them through the kitchen window as I did the dishes, and was perplexed to see them just stand there doing nothing. I came back out to ask if they needed anything or had any questions. The man with the measuring wheel said "no", but then sheepishly suggested that I really needed a gardener as my back patio was covered in leaves and looking rather messy. I thanked him for his offer but said that we prefered our privacy and would like to do it ourselves. After giving me a very disappointed look, he left our house without doing any of the measuring he had originally said he came to do.

Although capitalism inspires initiative, it also inspires greed. It works well for those few people that have received good education, opportunity and a bit of wealth to start off with, but the rest of the world seems to suffer in its wake. The resources of the world are horribly distributed these days as those that have, start to hoard, and those that don't have, hardly stand a fighting chance. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating government enforced wealth distribution. I'm just suggesting we take a moment to step away from our perceived "problems" and take a look at the world as a whole. Uneven distribution of wealth kills people. Daily.

The Business of Happiness

Abdulah S. Jum‘ah, made an interesting statement when he resigned after 13 years at the helm of the largest oil company in the world. In his farewell speech at the end of 2008, he said: “When I am asked what business I’m in, I don’t tell them I’m in the oil industry. I tell him or her that I am in the business of making people happy.” He explained that from the school bus giving children access to education, to the distribution of food, and power and heat to needy parts of the world, the oil business essentially made people happy. This statement swelled many of his loyal supporters with pride and has been echoed repeatedly, like ripples in a pond, at almost every company banquet, board meeting and seminar since the day it was mentioned.


If oil does in fact make people happy, it comes at incredible cost. Drillers need more than a pair of gloves and a lunchbox. Geologists have to find them places to drill. Pilots (like me) have to get them there and back. Doctors and nurses need to keep them alive, and dentists need to plug the holes in their teeth. Then there are the cooks, barbers, mailmen, security guards, travel agents, accountants, firemen, bus drivers, plumbers, lawyers, mechanics and teachers for all their kids. To keep up morale, these employees will need some sort of recreation, but this now requires libraries, tennis courts, weight rooms, bowling alleys, coffee shops, swimming pools, golf courses and hobby farms - with adequate staffing for each. Since the desert isn't always pretty to look at, grass and trees are imported from far off places, as is water, and grounds keepers to keep them trim. Air conditioning is a must most of the year, so repair men stand guard 24 hours a day. Pretty soon, departments are created to handle complaints, process passports, coordinate shipping, and board pets. It doesn't take long, and each driller has a crowd standing behind him like a Verizon subscriber and all he has accomplished is extract raw oil out of the ground. Now it needs to be processed and transported ... and if it can get past the coast of Somalia ... the world will be a bit happier.

To Be or Not To Be An Aristocrat

The dirty little secret that expats around the world choose not to highlight when they return to their native home, is that... well... most of them have a little help around the house. This would be rare to see in middle class America, or perhaps any other "westernized" country, as it smacks of slavery, and reminds us of times when we were less than honest about living out our ideals that "all men are created equal". But a little tour of some of the less "westernized" countries of the world, would reveal, I would be willing to bet, nine out of ten Westerners still taking advantage of cheap labor to make life a bit easier. These helpers could be nannies, maids, "house-boys" (a term I always cringe at, since these are usually grown men), gardeners, drivers, etc. To be fair, life is often much harder in many remote parts of the world, and expats often come with a high level of expertise and are contributing some valuable services to needy communities. To spend most of their time with the daily chores of life would take away from that considerably. As well, having a helper, is employment for someone that might have otherwise not had a job. No matter how justifiable these arrangements are, they have somewhat of a status defining effect, and one can easily start ascribing differing amounts of value to people depending on their particular role.

I did not anticipate the struggle I would have with this decision before I came out here. At the moment we have no help around the house, but have turned away at least ten potential gardeners and a few house maids. We welcome your opinion...

Finding Our Way Together

We have been in Saudi Arabia for a month now, as a family, and are far from a comfortable routine. I've been busy with work and endless other appointments for permits, licenses, I.D.'s, etc. that only I can do as I'm the only legal driver here in our family (women are not allowed to drive). Nikki, on the other hand, has been a bit stir crazy, unable to do much or go anywhere as Maddy comes home every day from school for lunch, and there really isn't time to get anywhere and back on the bus to go shopping etc., during the 2-3 hours Maddy is at school. So, often we join each other at opposite emotional levels - me wanting some peace and quiet, and Nikki longing for an exciting trip somewhere.

Speaking of exciting trips, the driving here is incredible! Since our new location doesn't come with a crew car service, I've been driving myself to work. My rental car shows about 4000 kilometers in the "trip meter" now in the last 4 weeks, while I've been waiting to get the proper documentation to drive our newly purchased '91 Honda Accord. During that time I've had to learn a completely different way of driving. Now, half of my attention is in the mirror, as I struggle to stay alive. Typically I'm on a highway with about 2 or 3 lanes and it seems like no one goes the speed limit. They are either 20-40 kph slower or 50-100 kph faster. So if you are cruising along in the middle lane at the speed limit (120 kph - or about 75 mph) you will invariably come across a slow service truck or guy on his cell phone going 80 kph. You will slip into the outside lane to get around him, and maybe two or three others he's following. Before you can get back into the middle lane, you will suddenly realize someone has come out of nowhere, and is tailgating so close that their windshield fills up most of your back window. Either that or you are being passed on the left shoulder by someone going literally twice as fast as you, and your car rocks from side to side as they whiz by within inches of your side mirror. This is an every day occurrence.

Exit lanes are also used very ...efficiently. Just the other day I took the exit off of one highway and had stopped at the end to yield to traffic on the next road I was going to take. I decided I wouldn't cut anyone off so I politely wait for a comfortable space to merge into. While I was waiting I suddenly realized cars were coming around me on both sides perfectly content to turn my one-lane exit into a three lane mass merging free-for-all. I was a sitting duck. I decided to let go of all courtesy and force my way into the crowd, as I really had no alternative. It's a different world out here. I usually can't wait to get to work so I can strap myself in an airplane, get it in the air, and finally relax.

Routines are starting to develop, however. Nikki has been going to Maddy's school to help out for a few hours a day. She's also been able to do some circuit training and yoga, and even has some Arabic lessons lined up. Thursdays (equivalent to Saturday's in the U.S.) usually are family days when we can go to the swimming pool, or library, and then come home, take a quick snooze in the hammock out back before we settle down to a rigorous game of monopoly. Fridays we go to a small Christian church on the compound, and maybe hit up a delicious brunch at the diner. I think I'm going to try to rejoin my water polo group on Friday afternoons, but I'll have to see how everyone else is feeling about that. Gone are my regular workouts and uninterrupted reading, but the sacrifice is well worth it. Peace and quite are not worth loneliness and separation in my book. It's much better this way.