WITH FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS IN THE GULF
This is a merry christmas dedication to all of the expats working overseas , especially in the Gulf in places like Bahrain, Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, Dubai , UAE , Oman ,I firstly want to show my appreciation to the people from India and Pakistan , Sri Lanka , and of course Bangladesh ... They all come to work here for little money , often living in very difficult circumstances with no family visits often for as long as 4 years apart ...People , try to spare a thought for these hard working people who without them these Arab countries would not have been built .
The Hospital staff , many Filipinos Thais, Indonesians .....and people from other near by countries like Egypt , as my son in law, Syria, Lebanon , Iraq and Iran .....
Teachers from the UK , France , Italy , and the US ... The troops here at the US bases , who will all have christmas away from home , and with their new found all be it temporary families .
Those communities of Venezuelans , Colombians and Chileans , working in Khobar Saudi , Dammam, ... the doctors and nurses from Australia NZ and the UK in Riyadh hospitals ,( Yeh i know about the still you guys got going there ) ... cheers , have a drink on me this xmas . Christmas cannot be spent with these peoples loved ones back home , they need to work , its like a normal day here in the gulf ...
The many Eastern Europeans who work in the stores here and they do it so well . The waiters the cooks who come from everywhere in the world .... Spare a thought this xmas for all these people no matter how humble or grand they may be at a time when you are sharing a wonderful meal with your family , ... these people will be far away from their families this xmas ....
I will think of you all on this day , particularly because it will be my first xmas away from my own little family , I will think of my Babul our house boy , who washed my car for 5 years , watered my plants , took out my rubbish , helped me with the groceries. Sweet Babul from Bangladesh , a decent , reliable and great little guy . My domestic assistant Mary , from Eritrea I will always miss you dear beautiful lady with a heart of pure gold and a real friend ... A true domestic goddess ......
There is no love greater than the love of a family especially at christmas time ....
Please think of those who cannot be with their families at Christmas ... saskia
Comments (30)
Nice blog Saskia.
Will try to be merry with the company of my colleagues and fellow Filipinos who the same as me will be missing Christmas home.
Christman is like our Chinese new year. Family members will stay together and enjoy their happy time.
But for those people who can't go back home for their jobs outside. I only wish they at least can express their feelings of homesickness through internet or other tele services to let their family members hear their voice.
Hi Gladioluss, you are very right that internet does a great job in connecting people, especially at such moments! Remember the time when there were only letters and land phones :)
Happy Christmas
Join me in France and that will double the people for a barge Christmas.
For those that want a great Christmas story for you kids go to my web site for The life story of Santa Claus as thousands of others do. It makes small disbeliever change their mind.
http://www.bryangriffin.info/Santa/
or search Life story of Santa Claus. It is usually number 1 on Google
Bless all those with empty chairs at their tables this christmas.
And for those needing extra seats may you be blessed with many more
Christmas meals the same.
Happy and Joyous times to all
Take care.
Regards,
Steven...
There is a lot of difficulty with africans in Italy at the moment , along with Romanians , albanians , libyans and folks from the former countries that were yugoslavia... The country is splitting at the seams . There is no work for locals , let alone foreigners . Many Italians are working here in the gulf now , because of the poor situation back home .
I was in Sweden last year , my friends and I sponsor a yemeni girl there , she lives in stockholm ...I did a story about her if you care to read it , Iman is her name . Sweden seems to be very open to refugees , as long as they are willing to learn the language , work and fit into society.
saskia