Do all the expatriates make good money by working in Kuwait? The answer is a big NO.All expatriates are earning money is a sure fact but not all are earning to live a reasonably good life. Then how all of them send reasonable remittances to their home countries to have a reasonable saving and reasonable standard of living for their dependents back at their home countries?
As a matter of fact basically Kuwait is a place meant for the poor and economically low level expatriates who by making maximum of sacrifices save their money to their maximum by spending minimum only for their bare necessities. By doing such sacrifices they build their empires back at home to give a decent life for their dependents. The little empires that they build in their countries are big for their standard but surely not as per the Kuwait standard.
Overwhelming majority of expatriates working in Kuwait are single ones whom we call here as bachelors. According to the local standard their average salary is very low to live a decent life. For this reason they make maximum of sacrifices to survive and save some amount to send back at home. They stay as pay in guests in small rooms with 3 to 4 other persons where there is no freedom even to cough though it is good for maintaining good health. When you stay like this you have to sacrifice your privacy but pay less and save little more which is abundant for the poor expatriates coming from economically low standard level.
Besides to save something little more he has to spend less on comfortable traveling, delicious eating, decent dressing and other amenities and requirements for leading a normal life. Hence, by undergoing enormous sacrifices, an expatriate can survive here and save something. However the results of these tremendous sacrifices create very bad effect on their health at the later stage especially at the old age stage.
I know a maid some years back on every Sunday from Fahaheel walking to Ahmadi Church for the weekly Mass covering one hour distance on foot thereby saving half a Dinar her Madame was giving her for transport. Thus she was saving 2 Kuwaiti Dinars a month to send to her home. For her standard these 2 KD were very big amount for her requirement when converted into Indian Rupees. With her very mediocre monthly salary plus the weekly and monthly tips she was getting, she got her two children educated up to graduation with a semi luxurious life and constructed a small but decent house. By seeing these, her neighbours said she was earning a lot in Kuwait but actually she was not earning a lot but sacrificing a lot which she invested in her children education and her house construction.
The result of her precious sacrifices was such that finally she expired in Kuwait only due to Pneumonia and was buried here in Kuwait only denying her children a last opportunity to cast their glance on their dearest mother. Otherwise Maids and other domestics in Kuwait are worked more and paid less but their sacrifices are tremendous.
Many times when the situation goes out of their hands, many single expatriate ladies to protect their jobs safely and residence permits provided by the locals even has to make sacrifices of their bodies. This is the worst sacrifice females many times have to undergo against their will. It is not only a sacrifice but it is also a torture.
In Kuwait very few expatriates are drawing 4 figure salaries and to earn the so low salaries they have to make so great sacrifices. The greatest sacrifice they make in Kuwait is the sacrifice of acceptance of humiliation and discrimination they face almost at every level against their wishes and if they are from the third world countries having non-white skin, then they are not treated as full-fledged human beings. In the eyes of law you are treated here as equal with others but in reality and practically it is not.
The low treatment some nationalities are getting here is so bad that it looks apartheid still exists not in Rhodesia or South Africa but below our own eyes. Because of this discriminatory treatment one feels he is a sub-human being and if he has to survive he has to accept this type of treatment. To accept such a treatment one has to perform a great sacrifice and many expatriates like dumb Goats are undergoing such a sacrifice for the benefit of their survival in this part of the world. To treat people like this is against the commandment of God. But some expatriates working here had to bear this lowliness only to earn a mediocre remuneration thereby undergoing the greatest sacrifices.
To run the economy of this country and to develop it, expatriates are doing lot of sacrifices. These sacrifices are of their sweat and blood. Hence, they should be treated with respect and dignity befitting their human nature. Even if they are wrong they should be treated humanely as human beings and as children of the same God.
When Kuwait was invaded on 2nd August 1990 many of these expatriates opposed this invasion by organising protest meetings and rallies in their countries and also by praying to God to help liberate Kuwait. This kind and generous gesture of expatriates cannot be ignored and cannot be forgotten. This was not a paid gesture but spontaneous one for the love of Kuwait and to get justice for Kuwait.
Kuwait.