Posted on 11/21/2004 10:19:32 AM PST by Edward Watson
I recently re-married (my first wife passed away last year from cancer) a gorgeous, wonderful woman from the Philippines. My new mother-in-law, Maybel, is one of the millions of Filipino overseas workers, working at menial jobs so they can take care of their families back home.
In Maybel's case, she works at the King Saud University in Riyadh, doing maintenance work. As the sole breadwinner, she does her best to provide for her children, regularly sending money to pay for their care, education and maintenance every month.
Maybel has been working such jobs in Saudi Arabia for over twelve years. She speaks Arabic, dresses in a burka and even converted to Islam.
Recently, her faith in the benefits of Islam may have been shaken by an incident that occured last month.
Maybel wanted to give my wife a gift for her birthday - a fancy new camera phone. A newer model than the one she had. She bought the phone at a mall in Riyadh and was happily on her way home when the Saudi religious police accosted her on the sidewalk and demanded to examine her bag. Upon doing so, they saw the new camera phone as well as her older camera phone. They immediately arrested her and threw her in jail.
The Saudi religious police then raided her apartment and confiscated her possessions, including photographs and jewelry.
They then interrogated her, asking the identity of a Caucasian sitting next to her in one of the pictures (it was me - she flew back to the Philippines to meet me - my wife, myself and Maybel had a picture of us together at a restaurant). Apparently, they flew into a rage when she replied "He married my daughter."
They decided to deport her but her employer entreated them not to since she was a valuable worker and they didn't have anyone to replace her.
Long story short, they released her after imprisoning her for ten days, returned her possessions except the new camera phone and the picture. They let her keep the older camera phone.
I don't know if she was beaten and neither do I know if she went to trial. I haven't spoken to her about the incident - only what my wife told me.
I find it perplexing how the Saudi religious police find a late model camera phone in the possession of a non-Arab Muslim to be against Islam, but an older camera phone is acceptable. I also find it suspicious why the Saudi owner of the cell phone store wasn't arrested or harrassed in any way.
Now Maybel is too traumatized to go out - she locks herself in her apartment and only goes out when absolutely necessary. She collapses into a panic whenever she sees the religious police and has been placed on medication. She now wants to go home to the Philippines but her employer appears reluctant to release her from her contract.
But then, what can one expect from Saudi Arabia - the place I affectionally call, "The sh**hole of the universe."
Prayers for your mother-in-law in all this. I pray the she has discovered the truth of Islam and can escape this.
As far as the camera phones.... sounds like to me the religious police wanted a brand new phone.
Sounds like plain old thuggery to me. Corrupt police. It can and does happen in dozens of countries. Not sure it is restricted to SA or Islamic "religious police."
This Part says it all....
"She now wants to go home to the Philippines but her employer appears reluctant to release her from her contract."
She like many other foreigners are SLAVES in the cesspool and terrorist haven known as Saudi Arabia.
Another place I hope is paved with glass in the future.
Screw the terrorists religous police there. They don't let a woman drive. A woman can't walk down the street with another man that is not her husband, etc... etc... etc...
She should leave while she is still able to do so, before she becomes a target. She is now marked by the jihadists, and it will only get worse, according to some reports I have read.
Best of luck to her, but if she stays, she will only live in fear.
No doubt the intention of the religious police was to acquire a new camera phone. On the other hand a very good case can be made for banning camera phones.
The native population of Saudia Arabia consists mostly of parasitical welfare queens. I believe that most native Saudis to this day receive a government check for public "jobs", which require little or no work. Western engineers take care of their oil industry and menial jobs are go to South Asian immigrants. Meanwhile, frustrated Saudi youths express their hatred towards Westerners, who make their easy living possible by purchasing their oil, by crashing airplanes against buildings and by funding wahhabist jihadis all over the world.
"On the other hand a very good case can be made for banning camera phones."
Why?
Your mother-in-law is one great woman, working so hard, so far away from home to help her family. She may have to stay until the end of her contract, but once it's over, please get her out of there!
I've heard that sometimes when the contract is up it's still hard to get out of there. One way is to take a vacation near the end of the contract, go to someplace else (Egypt?) and from there, scoot back home. (I recently read a book by an Australian nurse who went to work in SA and the horrors she had to endure and how hard it was go back home when her contract was up.)
I hope whatever happens you can find a way to send her a few dollars each month to help out the family (but you're probably already doing that).
Can you get her a job in the US? Last time I was in Las Vegas most of the housekeeping staff at my hotel was Filipino and spoke very little English.
What an admirable woman!
I believe that understanding Islam requires a twisted mind.
What's he really up to?
The thing is that Saudi Arabia has no civil laws. They just have Sharia, which is the religious authorities deciding what is allowed and what is not allowed in any given case according to their interpretation of the Quran and Haddiths.
Saudi bride roughs up guest for photographing her with camera phone ^
"Privacy, for one. You ever step into the men's room and there's some perverted gay blade in there talking on his cell phone?
What's he really up to?"
Cameras do the same thing. Are you going to ban them too? You are paranoid. You should try thinking rationally before posting here.
We are discussing cell phones with video capability. You know exactly what I meant. First question is, is it only a phone, or is it a camera, and who's watching?
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