Doha Diaries 13: When Reality Sets In

Monday January 21, 2008

Oh Doha … how I hate thee

At least not fully, but most of the time. Allow me to count the ways.

Your unpredictable traffic and horrendous drivers allow me to reach a level of insanity I have never felt before. 

Every day my shock for your lack of respect for life is renewed. To read “Labor Camp Available” or “Vacant Labor Camp” in daily classified adds and know they refer to rooms used by ill-paid and ill-treated workers turns my stomach. To justify it by saying these people have it better then they would back in their own countries makes it even worse. How do you live in your luxuries knowing someone’s back broke under your weight? If workers are needed then treat them with dignity and respect and do not rob them blind because they are too desperate or incapable of fighting for their rights!

I look forward to the day when you don’t require exit permits. I look forward to the day when I don't live with the reality that my employer can approve my weekend trips out of town. I look forward to the day when I can count on transparency and honesty within corporations. But even more so, I look forward to being appreciated for what I do because quite frankly, no one I have met is qualified in the same way that I am. That goes for all the other expats who are gracing your shores. Your own population is decades away from being educated enough to run anything in a self-sufficient manner and the people you have outsourced are clearly favors towards certain countrymen. Tax-free living isn’t enough recognition. You are lucky that so many of us are challenged enough in our jobs to stay. Your lack of local labor allows us to move ahead much faster. A perk. Few and far between.

I wish you would let us tell you all these things openly. Things would get better if we could stop tiptoeing around the truth. We all know what’s wrong and wish you’d admit that you do too. This love and hate relationship could end and we would all sing your praises. 

Sometimes I wonder what makes me stay. Family, friends, social life, freedom of thought and speech. How do I live without those realities? I am angry with myself for not being able to answer that. I’m taking the easy way out and saying that a few years out of life will only make me stronger. I will come out at the other end with a stronger CV and an even more solid work experience.