The fire in the mall in Doha is getting all the attention in the gulf today as 19 foreigners died in it. !3 of them children .....
On Sunday night 10 BANGLADESHIS died in a house fire as they slept in BAHRAIN , a one room house actually .from smoke inhalation before anyone could save them.
It is an example of how sad and desperate the plight is of these poor men who come to Bahrain and other gulf countries in search of work is , not to better their lives, but in order just to survive.
The fault was electrical, and this caused the fire. There were no smoke detectors .
The paper says the families are entitled to 1000 dinars compensation, about $3000 .
It will be interesting to see under sharia law what happens to the house owner, if he goes to court.
I will bet that nothing will ever be done about it. It was not his "" INTENTION """ for this to happen , therefore he is not responsible. The Bangladeshi government will not press any charges on behalf of these poor men and families who are without their financial providers now , because it needs a good relationship with Gulf countries such as BAHRAIN in order to have their citizens working there. If they make a fuss and force the issue many more people will be hard done by. This is how it works in the Gulf. The biggest income into Bangladesh is remittance money sent home from workers overseas.
Out of interest it will be interesting to see how many views this blog post gets ...... given the title might possibly be a boring and uninteresting subject for many.
This is a cause of concern for me as I live in Bahrain most of the time , and I do work in Bangladesh I am close to the community and know the sadness and frustration of their lives both in bahrain and in Bangladesh.
Please say a prayer for these poor people and realise how lucky you really are .
M hanif..M suleman...M hossain..Nazrul Islam . Anwar hussein..Abu Tahir...Abdul hassem...Syed ahmed.. the other two have not yet been positively identified ...
RIP ..........
saskia
Our sister in blog world , Mary, whom we have become very fond of , scared us the other day when she announced she would close her profile here , said a quick good bye and went off into the blue space of cyber with her new man AMIR....
We were all gossiping as bloggers do , about her Amir as we feared she might have run off with our Pakistani Amir , to Pakistan, and never to be heard of or seen again. Amir was a blogger of monumental koranic quotations , and a serious messenger of Islam to us non believers . I quite admired Amir for his persistence in delivering his message to us heathens in the face of such adversity...... We did know no other Amir so suspected Mary might be his first CS convert. I had visions of Mary in a Burkha , black, and all enveloping , down the market ( bazar) somewhere in dusty Peshawar ... buying live chickens all strung together by their feet , and some pomegranates , with Amir waiting at home sitting cross legged on the floor in a dhoti bellowing out instructions about how to fill the stove with kerosine. I saw her plucking her chickens, making a curry ....... it was a pleasant scene..... But I saw Mary was not happy...
SO THANK GOD SHE CAME BACK BEFORE SHE WENT , EVEN IF IT WAS ANOTHER AMIR... Just to save me from my own worrying dreams.
WELCOME BACK OUR MARY ...MARY LIVES TO BLOG AGAIN AND SHARE HER INTERESTING LIFE STORIES WITH US ...BECAUSE WE WANT HER TO FIND HER MAN , BUT NOT ABANDON US AGAIN AND MAKE US WORRY ABOUT HER.
WE LOVE YOU MARY DONT LEAVE US AGAIN .....Saskia , say hi to your little boy from all your friends IN BLOG LAND.
You are all invited my friends .
canapes : smoked salmon with capers on croutons,
salmon roe with creamed mayonnaise egg on croutons.
mini roasted cocktail tomato and basil tartlets
mini beef and mushroom ball croquettes.
Starters: Fresh green asparagus with anchovy and caper butter sauce.
Scallops with a fine leek and pernod cream sauce
Garlic prawns with lemon and a hint of chilli.
Fresh herb crusted sardines grilled flat.
Chargrilled octopus
Fresh mushrooms of the forest and speck tartlet.
Flowers of zucchini with crab and ricotta stuffing en tempura.
Main course; CASSOULET...... a french farmhouse dish of duck, lamb, pork and
white beans , tomato.
Vegetables: Mixed green beans with red pepper and aubergine
Cheese: Creamy gorgonzola, peccorino. taleggio brie
Dessert: Cherrie clafouti
Strawberries Romanoff
Tarte au citron.
I am off to cook now .....
Enjoy.....Saskia .....I will post the photos tomorrow
Does anyone have a recipe for peking duck pancakes and will Bo free TIBET when he gets out of jail for murder?
Any thoughts folks?
Any recipes girls?
Oh and another question , if i did become a prostitute do you think id be any good at it, as a job I mean ? Or am I too old ?
Ok due to my extreme sensitivities there will be no mention of the words MAY , CHINA AND HOW in one sentence, or AS conjoined WORDS. Saskia and no i am not Russian or from the Eastern block , my name means goddess of love ..... in Dutch
Sorry about too much makeup without it I'm very plain.
WHO WANTED TO KILL HER ....This is a true story of a Yemeni girl fighting for her right to be educated .
I met IMAN six years ago in Yemen , my daughter was studying Arabic at the university there. Iman surprised me with her remarkable ability to speak English , her beauty , her intelligence and mostly her very caring & helpful nature.
As I got to know her i became aware of her tragic family story , it shows how courageous she is & determined to achieve what she wants, in this case an education.
Yemen is a backward country culturally by our standards. It is religious, women are hidden under veils . With little rights , & although they are protected by the fathers , husbands & brothers , protection has a whole different meaning there . Girls as young as 12 can be married off for a price, negotiated by the brothers or father. Iman , a highly intelligent girl who knew from a young age she wanted to study law. But it was impossible because her brothers sold her at 13 to a man of 40. After a week she ran back to her family , she was beaten & returned to the husband, the husband no longer wanted her, she was beaten again by the brothers. A year later she was sold again , & ran away again & was beaten more severely this time . Her virginity gone, her selling price was diminished , but she has beauty so she was on the market again . She determined to not be married and pleaded with her brothers to allow her to finish school first. In the mean time she got work in a hotel where she earnt money to support her ailing mother who with 7 children including 5 lazy qat chewing sons had no income. She was confronted one evening by overhearing her brothers threatening to kill her if she did not marry a man who had offered to buy her for a bride, she had no idea of this proposed marriage, the brothers determined their good name & pride would not be blackened again by a disobedient sister . Luck had it the hotel she was working in, had organised for a passport for her. Wanting to send her overseas for training , however it was not ready yet. Iman went to the office with all the gold she had and bribed the officers to let her have the passport. She had no permission from her "Mahrahm " , more gold slipped to the officer allowed her to get on a plane . She went to Sweden where they accepted refugees. The Swedish are very accommodating, as long as they are genuine and want to accept swedish culture , language and work. Free school is for a year , every 3 months they are tested, if they pass they stay , if not are repatriated back to Yemen . Of 72 Yemenis Iman is the only one allowed to remain . She speaks fluent Swedish now as well as English , Shortly after her arrival she was hospitalised and operated on for internal damage to her spleen caused from her beatings , she nearly died due to infection afterwards . Luckily she met a family who offered her food & board in exchange for baby sitting. She did her high school certificate in Swedish & is now training in nursing, she can earn money while she trains. She saves her money & in three years she will have enough to go to university to study law. She is now 27.
She had to return to Yemen for a month recently when there was confusion with her sponsorship, unable to see her old mother and little sister for fear of her brothers who have made it known they will kill her for her disloyalty to protect their honour.
We have a group of friends including the manager of this hotel where Iman used to work who help her collectively with funds, clothes & money for books etc. Remakably she sends money to her old mother and sister even though she knows there is little chance of seeing them again.
I write this as I am prompted to tell it as an example of how someone can have no opportunity in life and still can manage to make it happen for herself....Whereas some young people have everything at their feet & every opportunity yet have no clue of how to fulfil themselves. Saskia
IF YOUR CHILD WANTED TO BECOME A MUSLIM ?
If you found out they were associated with a muslim fundamentalist group?
I WANT TO HAVE A LAUGH TODA, MAYBE WE ALL NEED TO LAUGH TODAY.
DEAR SARGEANT RESSE, FROM ALASKA, GOD BLESS YOU ...THANKYOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN ME , BUT I AM SEARCHING FOR A MAN FROM NIGERIA OR GHANA, IT WOULD BE TOO COLD IN ALASKA WHERE YOU LIVE AND WORK IN THE ARMY, I WANT A MAN IN A MORE WARM CLIMATE AND ONE WHO WORKS IN COMPUTERS/ COMMUNICATIONS.
SO GOD BLESS YOU AND MAY THE ANGELS ALWAYS REST ON YOUR SHOULDERS , MAY YOU BE PROTECTED BY JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH, GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR SON, YOUR EYES WERE SO BLUE AND SWEET BUT I PREFER AFRICAN EYES TO KEEP ME WARM AT NIGHT. DID YOU KNOW I LOVE CANDLE LIGHT WALKS ON THE BEACH AND MOONLIGHT EVENINGS BY THE FIRE HOLDING HANDS AND SIPPING A GOOD BOTTLE OF RED. ( SIC)
GOD BLESS YOU AGAIN AND YOUR LOVED ONES, MAY JESUS BLESS YOU AND ALL WHO SAIL IN YOU . PLEASE REPLY ON MY EMAIL , AS I MIGHT BE KICKED OFF HERE SOON COS I SOUND LIKE A SCAMMER.
I did not know much about cruises or cruise lines here in America, I was dreaming I could pick any cruise and head off into the Caribbean with a boat /ship load of potentials frothing at the mouth for me , lining up for a dance with me and eventually be sipping cocktails in the sunset as we sailed away.
The reality is far from that. When I embarked 11 days ago I felt out a little out of place that I didn't have a wheelchair or zimmer frame. People on board celebrating forty years of marriage have nothing to boast about, I met a couple who were married 65 years. Dinner is already over by 7 pm for most people, if you bump into someone still out and about at 9 pm it might make the news. It takes some manoeuvring to get places at time with the mobility scooters crowding up the gangways.
The plus side can outweigh the negative on some occasions though.....like when you are at the pool on deck , i never realised I looked so great in a bikini. Being agile helps you beat the buffet lines . You can spread out to watch the evening shows, all the oldies are already in bed. Plenty of space in the computer room, not many of them seem very computer savvy. I look young and almost wrinkle free beside my mostly octogenarian fellow passengers.
I am on a back to back cruise,,,,,new recruits will join the ship today.
So I'm off to the gangplank to check out if there is any fresh meat come on board........yes it has come down to that.
This cruise is highly recommended for those already happily paired up with someone, and not to be recommended for singles like me out on the hunt.
I hope some of you can share some experiences with me and others who may have an interest , in what cruises make the best for being with other singles. Your input is valued.
This is Saskia signing off from the floating retirement village the NOORDAM by Holland America Line.
Ok this is only for the ladies........... I did not realise the impact buying a new handbag for myself could have on me. Well particularly this one, because ladies this one is hard to find, I have been in Prada stores looking for the putty coloured SAFFIANO tote bag in about 6 different countries in the past 6 months, all sold out every where. All the chic ladies have this bag in their wardrobes and on their arms ,so i have been told, the colour goes with everything, hermes makes a Birkin bag in the same colour, this is the poor womans Birkin bag, but about $5000 cheaper. At $2000 it is a steal. I had to make sure I was carrying my new Saffiano putty colour, the right way round so people could see the PRADA logo. No more did i walk the street with my shabby old ""if it falls in the sea it won't matter bag""....."" the if i get drunk and vomit on it and spill ketchup on it "" it won't matter bag. I Had my new Saffiano bag. BY PRADA>
Now no one has noticed it yet, and thats a bit of a shame , well no ones gone ohh aahh you have a saffiano bag By PRADA >>>>>> but I still feel an achievement, because I have it. I have the IT bag..just like sarah jessica parker has her manolos, Victoria Beckham has her Birkin bags........ just as Jackie Onasis had capri pants, and Mahatma Ghandi had Dhoti... Thats the man version of a sari..................It looks good and I feel sophisticated with it, I feel i have made it, I am part of THE crowd that have ownership of a Saffiano ........I am chic.
Now ladies, I am shallow sometimes, it is true, but did you ever get a buzz out of owning something special? Is there anything you do or strive to own for yourself that when you have it it makes you feel good. Is my bag good just because it is prized and not so easy to get? Will the charm of having the bag wear off when it becomes as down graded as a luis vuitton tote bag thats knocked off by the millions in china and everyone has one thus devalueing its chicness? Saskia, in Miami,
When I was alone and realising how much I miss you still. I am on a quest to learn how to sail well. Its not going too well , maybe its because I am a slow learner, or just slow.
It was your dream to sail the world with me, we retired early and just when we were ready to fulfil our dream you left me. Some one called you away from me. My dream was shattered for a long while, and I could not get back into sailing for a long while. Now something is drawing me to it, I will buy a boat in your honour and call her Bernie's dream, after you my love.
I want to sail her around corsica, the land of your forefathers, I hope I can catch a spirit, that links me to that place and your origins.
Am I doing the right thing, in continuing with your dream, my love ?
I am floundering more each day, some say it gets easier, but for me it gets harder every day. The longer you are gone , the more I pine for you and your sweet smile and tender touch.and your caring ways. I would have been nothing had it not been for you, and now you are gone I am nothing without you.
Death is so permanent . Why are we left behind alone ,
Ok ladies, girls and sisters.........I have discovered the ultimate place for those starved of a little MAN attention. The beautiful island of Barbados.
This is how it goes, You gotta say this in a west Indian accent to get the affect now.
" Hello darlin, I just wanna say you look very pretty and you got a nice dress on today, de blue in it complements your beautiful eyes. And you got lovely hair. " ...oh thank you ...." and you smell very nice also " ....thankyou ......" you just remember I am here waiting for you if you need anytin " ......oh thanks you are very kind .." oh and my name is Roland, so if you be goin needin any tin now remember Im here for you always, don't you be forgettin dat now, whats your name ? beautiful lady. " ......saskia........ yaaaaaa ok das a very pretty name, ok remember Roland is watin here for you always.
Now ladies for now lets not worry about how deep these kind gestures may go, but isn't it nice when men like the look of you and are NOT too afraid to make a comment, in a polite way. I am an old lady, so imagine how good it is for the young ladies here. One thing I realise though is that if you look good, feel happy , look happy, people will notice you, especially in BARBADOS. from Saskia, on holiday island hopping in the caribbean
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