MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

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)