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Ramadan Kareem

We are now pretty much in the middle of Ramadan out here and for all concerned it is fairly tedious. For the people fasting, (which means consuming no food or drink during daylight hours and then stuff yourself silly at nightime) I can see it must be particularly demanding this year as the event falls over the hotest time of the year. While pregnant ladies, the infirm and young children and a couple of special categories are exempt they are the few exceptions. Anyone of any background seen eating or drinking in public is liable for an instant £200 fine from the police. You have to feel a bit sorry for the building workers out in the heat all day though it is suspected they soak their face scarves in water at any opportunity to give a little respite.
For the rest of us it is difficult to find food and drink before darkness falls. All restaurants and cafes shut down and only in the Gulf hotel is there one rerstaurant open which is hidden away behind leather shutters to prevent any passing Muslim being offended or getting jealous. I had an 'All-Day' breakfast this morning just because I could. It is not served all-day but does take all day to consume - and why not as there is stuff all else to do in this period.
Even though the rules on clothing are more thoroughly enforced over Ramadan there is fortunately no ban on using the swimming pool so that is where I am heading next

Mid-tour home visit

Just off on my way shortly. Spending a few days at home which will be very exciting - just alittle bit excited!, really looking forward to it even though it is only a few days; just hope the transport plan all works.

All the King's Camels

Well, apart from my camel friend Sultan who I see on my occasional runs I had been quite disappointed that the old 'ships of the desert' do seem to be rather few and far between. However, all that changed last weekend. Having seen a postcard with the most tenuous lead of a location for where camels could be seen I set out on a hunt. After resolving the small oversight of nearly ending up in Saudi Arabia without a passport I evertually came upon the the King's uncle's camel farm. Noitwithstanding the somewhat unencouraging signs saying 'No Entry' 'Access Forbidden' they are actually quite happy to see visitors though perhaps because of the signs I was the only one there!

Having got chatting to one of the camel keepers he then proceeded to give me a tour of their stables and even took me down to meet the baby camels that were just 3 weeks old which was a lot of fun. They are all very friendly (Both camels and keepers!) but I was quite glad thatthe massively large male ones were chained to avoid them getting too friendly though all were up for a bit of a pat and nose scratch. Baby camel was quite keen to eat my camera which made filming a bit of a challenge but I was able to get quite a few shots and a video will be appearing shortly!

The camels, 400 of them in all, are kept as a hobby (don't feel quite so bad about just the two motorbikes now!) and keep about 27 chaps employed looking after them. All in all a very good visit and all for the price of a tip to the camel keeper.

Sand, and more sand!

I went for a drive down the East coast of the island the other day, partly as something to do and also with the idea of visiting the famous (?!) 'Tree of Life'. I managed to miss the Tree of Life so that is something for another day but thought you might nonetheless be amused by the fantastic views you get once out of the city!

Local Workers

There have been quite a few stories running in the local papers lately about employment of expat workers. While we normally think of that meaning Brits working abroad here it really means the Indians and Pakistanis who make up the vast majority of the manual labour force and about 50% of the population. It is a big issue as the locals are rapidly becoming outnumbered by the imported workers with the consequential impact on housing, resources and local traditions. The situation, though entirely self-produced, is worse because all the imported work force either have accommodation, food and clothes provided or else they spend minimal amounts on them with the vast majority of their meagre wages returned to their families abroad. The result is that the workers though not paid much individually, because of their numbers account for a massive drain on the finances (cash) of the Bahraini Kingdom as it losses money from its economy.

The workers rights are currently non-existent. Their contract which will pay for their transport over here means they are tied to that employer and whatever pay and conditions he imposes. (Companies going bust generate huge turmoil as their workers have no money to return home but cannot stay in the country as they have no work!). A proposed law to let workers change employer s has terrified the big companies who realise that giving employees freedom of movement creates competition between employers which will cost them money as workers shift to those companies with the best pay and conditions – just like they do in any free labour market!!

Certainly watching the building going on outside my window demonstrates all sorts of issues over health and safety (working at height without safety harnesses, travelling loose in the back of wagons etc) and all for extraordinarily little pay, perhaps £100 a month if they are lucky. (We are on abouit twice our normal pay to survive the high cost of living out here). Stories abound about the inhuman living conditions of many to a room and disasters narrowly averted when accommodation catches fire.

However, dreadful as it may seem these workers are all very happy to be here as the conditions from which they have come are considerably worse and with much less employment opportunity. On top of that, large numbers of those from Pakistan are avoiding a major and very nasty war. By our standards that justifies nothing but by theirs and their employers it explains everything.

Regional News

Bahrain, along with most of the rest of the Middle East is a two class society. A country separated by not just employment and money but by nationality and race as well. The manual workers are exclusively Pakistani and Indian with the white collar (white dish-dash) echelon all Western or Bahraini. Consequently the news that one sees in the local daily papers, while reflecting world stories has considerably more from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka than would be seen in the UK media.

The major conflict in Pakistan, following that government’s failed gamble by effectively abdicating responsibility for the Northern region and handing it over to the Taliban is widely reported. Judging from Sky news it would seem that this has not been that well covered. The proximity of forces to Islamabad, the security of nuclear weapons and influence on both Afghanistan and India seem to have passed people by who are outside the region.

Further South in Sri Lanka, while they have waited for far too long to have a concerted go at the Tamil tigers, they now appear to be slaughtering huge numbers of innocent locals who have been deliberately forced by the Tamil tigers to remain in the area as a dispersed human shield.

As if these humanitarian disasters were not enough rarely a day goes by without a dreadful story from India. To give you some idea there have been two appalling stories recently about school children. One girl died in an expensive private school from an asthma attack because no one knew what to do and even worse an 11 year old girl was punished for not doing her homework by making her stand in the sun – unsurprisingly she collapsed into a coma and subsequently died.

All in all there is much going on in the region which should make you glad you live in Europe.