MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times
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MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

news.kuwaittimes.net
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15.11.2012 Views

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 Photos from Instagram account: SCWD Local What’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 By Nawara Fattahova Abdullah, 30, currently a government employee in a ministry, sits at his desk for five hours every day, sipping tea and reading Tweets. On rare occasions he will send out CVs to large, pri- vate companies as he seeks employment and professional growth. “The restricted growth opportunities in the public sector and the lack of trust in us as Kuwaiti employees are forcing me to reconsider my options here and move back to the UK where I studied,” Abdullah said. Abdullah’s case is not isolated. In a country where two-thirds of the labour force is made up of foreigners and the government provides a cradle-to-grave social system, Kuwaitis who want to grow and develop are increasingly considering greener pastures. In the current post-recession mode, the social insecurity for private sector employees, the political vacuum, the continuously skyrocketing cost of living and the regional turmoil that has taken hold in the Gulf, have all conspired to create a new migratory wave for Kuwaitis. Fresh graduates and other young professionals are starting to look at opportunities away from home. To exacerbate the sense of insecurity, the constant spread of rumours about possible Gulf turmoil with serious repercussions for Kuwait have sent shivers down the collective Kuwaiti spine. Just in the last week, a Whatsapp broadcast spread false information that the United States embassies in Kuwait and Bahrain advised their citizens not to register their children in schools for this year and to send them home before Oct 2012. The American Embassy in Bahrain officially denied issuing any statement warning its citizens to leave the country before October. Some Kuwaitis seek refuge from the domination of big business and contemplate moving abroad to settle, while people like Salah, a 29year-old businessman, laments the wasta. He said, “Although I am financially comfortable, I feel I am lacking many other things. I’m doing well in my business, but I’m still a small businessman in a place where all privileges go to the big businessmen from well-known families. There is no chance for competition in our country, and the situation is different elsewhere, places where they respect work and performance, rather than wasta or family position.” For Salah, settling abroad is being triggered by the dearth of equal chances between citizens in the community. “The problem of inequality exists in many different fields, not only in business,” Salah said, providing an example from his own job application experience. “Many times I tried to apply to different institutions, and although I met the conditions I didn’t succeed because I don’t have wasta,” he said. To illustrate his point, he said he once submitted a proposal for executing a project to recycle car tyres, but he never received approval. “Then I opened my Local Kuwaitis looking for a home away from home garage alone, without the government’s support,” he said. “All that we hear about supporting young Kuwaitis in starting small businesses is not true. Maybe if I demanded doing a project for cookies or cupcakes they would agree,” added Salah. He is now considering moving to France. “I have received an offer from a person I know to move to France and be paid $15,000 a month. I am really considering this offer,” he said, noting the bitter disappointment he feels due to the political and social situation in Kuwait. “I have lived here for the first 29 years of my life, so why not try to shift somewhere else to see how my life could be there?” he asked. Mansour, 26, a scriptwriter and a “person of art”, as he describes himself, was actively participating in the rallies, hoping for a change in the current stagnation of the country. Today, he says he is facing the dilemma to either stay in Kuwait, receive all the social benefits the country offers and “pass time”, or move somewhere else where he has a chance to become someone. “My craft is unique and you cannot make it here,” he says. Meanwhile, Nawaf, 32, has a relative who has lived in France for over 20 years. He explained that his father’s uncle, at over 60 years of age, is now working in a popular international institute in France representing Kuwait. After he retired, he decided to stay there with his two children. “Here he owns a house which he is renting and doesn’t want to come to live here. Before moving he was a teacher at Kuwait University. His uncle married a British woman when he was in Kuwait and moved with her. The fact that it’s been easy for him to adapt to life abroad means that it is not so hard,” Nawaf said. Nawaf, however, finds constantly moving has made another of his relatives less happy. He tells the story of his single 55-year-old uncle, who has to change locations every four years because of his work for the Kuwait Airways Corporation in their different branches around the world. “He moves to different countries, mostly in Asia and Europe. For more than 20 years he has been living in these countries and has never come back to Kuwait. Only during Ramadan he comes and rents a room in a hotel. He is not married and I feel sad for him,” he said. (Velina Nacheva contributed to this report)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />

Photos from Instagram account:<br />

SCWD<br />

Local<br />

What’s more fun than clicking a beautiful<br />

picture? Sharing it with others! This<br />

summer, let other people see the way<br />

you see <strong>Kuwait</strong> - through your lens. Friday<br />

<strong>Times</strong> will feature snapshots of <strong>Kuwait</strong> through<br />

Instagram feeds. If you want to share your<br />

Instagram photos, email us at<br />

instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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