Bloggorhea

DJIBOUTI AFRICA - THINK “SALLY STRUTHERS” NOT “MARLIN PERKINS”

2011-05-08T03:00:00.021-04:00

I am often asked “Why would you go to place like Djibouti for work?” I ask myself that question all the time and there are many reasons. Believe it or not, I didn’t come here for the money. This particular adventure started off as a chance to challenge myself and for professional growth. I was quickly reminded though, after arriving here, that one of the other reasons I enjoy working in places like this is that it helps me keep perspective on my own quality of life and what is really important.

First let me say that it is not horrible here for us. The project work is quite satisfying, and the team we have here is an excellent group. It can be a bit like a “frat house” at times, but coming from the Marlborough Office, I’m used to that. As you can see from the picture above, there are some surprisingly nice things about Djibouti. Djibouti has a huge French influence and a wealth of fresh fish, so the restaurants are very good here. The fishing is excellent. The beaches are great and the waters are full of exotic fish for snorkelers or divers. There is a great live band in town and there is karaoke on Thursday nights.

There are some inconveniences: the tap water is not really safe to drink; the shower water comes out at only two temperatures, which is about 80 degrees in the winter and well over 100 in the summer; power outages occur every day; the fastest internet is 2Mbps and it is not reliable; there is no fast food (Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, etc.); and there are no traffic signals, road signs, or really any driving rules at all. The list of things we take for granted in the US that are not available here goes on endlessly.

But even with these “hardships”, we live a very comfortable lifestyle compared to the majority of the population in Djibouti. Don't be fooled by the picture above. Djibouti has some beautiful sights, but it is a developing nation in every sense of the phrase.

As I am fond of saying, Djibouti is not Marlin Perkins’ Wild Kingdom Africa . . . it is Sally Struthers’ ChildFund International Africa.

A bit about Djibouti (from the CIA World FactBook):

population is about 760,000, 75% live in Djibouti City
unemployment in Djibouti City is 59%, 83% in rural areas
population below poverty line is 42% (US = 12%)
literacy is 67% (US = 99%)
average years of education is 5 years (US = 16 years)
infant mortality is 55 deaths per 1000 (US = 6)
average life expectancy is 61 years (population ages 65 and over is only about 3%)

Donkeys pulling carts or loaded with water jugs are as common as pickup trucks. Herds of goats, cattle, and camels wander the streets. Any open lot is a public restroom especially if there are trees for privacy. There is almost no trash removal service, so the garbage piles up in empty lots and wherever the wind blows it. There is no storm drainage and the soil does not absorb water well, so when it does rain (admittedly only a few days a year) the water sits in huge puddles for days breeding mosquitoes by the billons – not a great thing in a country prone to Malaria.

The thing that started to bother me most though was the beggars around town. Kids as young as 4 or 5 years old wander the streets unattended. Every shop in town has a contingent of mothers carrying babies or little shoeless children begging for food or money. I try to give money where I can but unfortunately it is impossible to help everyone and there are known scam operations around town. It’s very disheartening to see children living in these conditions.

One day, when I was venting my frustration at not being able to help everyone, one of our subcontractors, a gentleman named Mohammed who manages our site security, told me that Djibouti City really isn’t the worst of it. And so he took me on a drive to Balbala.

Balbala is like nowhere I have ever been. There is absolutely no trash removal. The trash-filled lots are also used as toilets. Public water does not run into the neighborhoods so many folks have taken to running garden hoses over the streets (the school I’ll talk about in a minute gets its water this way). There is no electricity other than street lights on the main roads, so the people of Balbala have illegally tapped into power lines with some of the most dangerous rigs I have ever seen. I honestly think the nomadic herders who roam the rural areas probably live a cleaner, safer life.

The one thing they do have though are schools. After all, the hope of any nation is embodied in its children right? But the schools are horribly inadequate by our standards. Over in Djibouti City the students are generally well cared for, they go to school all day and they play soccer in the adjacent dirt lots in the afternoon. Not quite our standards but at least consistent and with the necessary supplies.

In Balbala there are teachers but no supplies. The school cannot accommodate all the children in the area and so elementary school operates in the morning and middle/high school in the afternoon with the same group of about six or eight teachers, each with about 40 students in their classroom. Many of the students just sit and listen because they don’t have pencils or paper. The library has only a small handful of books.

So after touring Balabala and seeing the situation, admittedly from afar, I decided that we should do what we could to help.

We started out with the intent of donating to the Djibouti School for the Blind. Mohammed had gone searching for reputable contacts in the schools. There is a lot of corruption here and so we wanted to be sure that our efforts didn’t end up with some scam artist pocketing the money from school supply sales. The School for the Blind was the first reasonably reliable contact. So, we arranged a collection drive in February.

However, as often happens in Djibouti, things don't always move as quickly as one would like. This was compounded by the fact that early April was election time here. Mohammed is well connected and was nervous about our charity efforts becoming "politically charged". I don't necessarily think that would have happened, but it was his wish to postpone the donations and so we did. At first he said “wait until after early April elections,” then he pushed us off to after May 22nd, which has some other political significance similar to inauguration. Since we are going to be finishing up our work here at the end of May, I didn't want to end up with nowhere to donate the supplies that everyone at ECC had generously donated.

So during my travels in and around Djibouti I met a woman, Harriett Nettles, who works for in educational assistance. She is here as a technical advisor in the Ministry of Education with IFESH, International Foundation for Education and Self Help. Basically she is working with the public school system helping them train their teachers. At one of the many karaoke Thursday nights (one of my few guilty pleasures here) I mentioned to her that we had collected all of these supplies and that I was having trouble planning the distribution. Harriett offered to help.

On April 30 at around 10am we drove to Djibouti Public School PK-12. PK-12 is a sub-division of Balbala (Balbala is sort of like a county). We met with the school principal (Omar), the school system pedagogical advisor (Omar), and a school inspector (Mohammed). Harriett acted as our liaison since I do not speak French and the school staff had limited ability in English. We spent about an hour visiting a few classrooms and giving pencils, notebooks, etc. out to the kids. After disrupting class for a bit, it was time for recess and the yard filled up pretty quickly with all the other children wanting to see what was going on – about 300 kids filled the yard. During the break we handed out some of the other items directly to the teachers –crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue, and construction paper. We didn't want to disrupt them for too much longer, so we left the remaining supplies to be handed out by the principal.

Each class thanked us with a loud "merci!" There really is nothing quite like the feeling of hearing 40 kids saying “thank you” in unison and with genuine appreciation. I’m not even sure that they appreciated the pencils and paper specifically, but as the principal and other school officials said, it’s not so much the supplies as it is that the kids know that someone actually cares. School supplies are something that I for one, do not even think about at school time back home. I think nothing of passing over average school supplies and spending a few extra dollars to get my daughter notebooks plastered with the face of Disney’s latest heartthrob. A new school year = new backpack, new supplies, new everything. Things that could significantly improve the educational experience for these kids are simply lying around my house unused or are relegated to the bargain bin at Staples because they’re not cool enough.

And that’s what I mean about perspective. It is quite sobering to actually see poverty firsthand. What we consider basic needs are luxuries to most of the world population. The US is a very small part of the world. Sure getting out and seeing other parts of the world is great for my career, but more importantly it’s a stark reminder of what is really important.

Thanks to everyone at ECC who donated to the collection efforts, especially to those who coordinated the donation efforts, packaging and shipping to Djibouti.

Two more Misawa restaurants

2009-04-04T07:21:00.009-04:00

OK here are the last two I got pictures of. Both of these places are on the last side street on the left as you head from the main gate to the actual white pole section of "White Pole Street". I dont know the name of either place.

The first place is a yakitori restaurant.
Yaki = BBQ
Tori = chicken

Short story, this place is really good, reasonably priced and they have an Engrish menu.

If you look at the picture you enter this place to the right of the white car. It's on the left hand side of the street as you head away from White Pole. Its a smallish place but they have a few private rooms that can seat a family sized party. The room we sat in at the back is faux floor sitting (i.e., the floor is cut out under the table) so you can look like you're sitting on the tatami without needing a chiropractor after dinner. Perfect for gaijin like myself.

Yakitori, like alot of Japanese dining is, in my experience, as much about socialization as it is about eating. For this reason it is one of my favorite meal expereinces. Yeah I know most people dont think of me and the word "social" in the same thought but this is different. And most who know me know that once I'm comfortable talking to you, I dont shut up. I can sit for hours at a place like this just eating, drinking and chatting with friends.

Anyway, everything comes in smallish portions (sort of tapas style to draw a parallel to something others might know). Most everything comes on skewers, two or three per order. They use every part of the chicken. My favorites are the hearts, livers and skin. The wings are really good as well. Everything is generally salty which makes it great beer food.

The second place is traditional sushi.
They do not have an English or even an Engrish menu. I have not been here without native Japanese speakers but the staff is super nice so it might be worth a try.

Its on the right hand side of the street as you head away from White Pole. It is totally nondescript from the outside. Inside are a bunch of private rooms and a sushi bar.

There are two unique things about this place. The first unique thing(s) are the features of the place physically inside. There is a large(gigantic really) crab tank behind the sushi bar and the tanks that make up the bar itself. I've included a bad pic of the tank behind the bar. The second unique thing is that they serve fresh wasabi with your meal. No premixed paste. You get a short piece of horseradish root and a sharkskin plate to grind it on.

Needless to say, the food here is really really fresh. As you can see from the video below some foods are still kicking when you get them.
There really isnt much else to say about this place really other than GO HERE WITH A BIG APPETITE. It's not overly expensive, me and 4 other guys ate here for less than $200 including alcohol. The sushi is fresh which is the key after all.

Monster Sushi

2009-03-23T08:23:00.007-04:00

OK another kaitenzushi post . . . this place is called Kappa Sushi.

Kappa is a monster that lives in the water maybe a rabid turtle or creature from the black lagoon or something. But, as you can see from the sign, this is a kinder gentler kappa. The restaurant is more of a family type place.

It's more industrial, less personal but each plate is only 100 yen. The food quality was average. Fresh cold fish and warm rice again so you really cant go wrong but gut feel was the fish was fresher last night at Kozo. This place did though have aji (spanish mackerel) which actually was super fresh and the pieces were large so I was quite happy about that. They had a wider variety of things than other places but the hamachi was better elsewhere and I didnt see any of the higher grade tuna's on the menu. but and if you have kids its very entertaining.

There is a truly unique feature that makes this place "wicked pissah" as they say at home.

So at most kaitenzushi places they have specials that you have to request. You can also request from the normal fare in case what you really want hasnt been making the conveyor rounds. Typically this actualy requires human interaction which can sometimes be problematic for introverted non-Japanese speakers like myself.

At Kappa Sushi though at each table there is a touch screen menu ordering system (see my crappy pic to the left). You just pick what you want from the menu, sushi, drinks, soup, desserts, and push the "place order" button.

Now comes the cool part . . . the chefs in the kitchen make your order and send it to you by a miniature Shinkansen. So here's a video of my aji arriving by train . . .

What did I tell you? Wicked pissah, right?!

The Restaurants of Misawa

2009-03-22T08:56:00.004-04:00

Boredom is getting to me still so maybe blogging is in order. I've found that there is limited guidance on the restaurants of Misawa Japan. Especially guides geared toward those who's Japanese is limited. Odd since this is largely a US military town. www.misawalife.com is a very good site but only covers a small fraction of the restaurants here. Of course alot of Americans are probably hanging out at the AAFES Food Court eating Taco Bell and Subway, then heading over to the Commissary for Cap'n Crunch and Hot Pockets but I'm sure there are quite alot of adventurous folks who wander the streets looking for some local flavor. So I'm not going to make this an all Misawa blog, my attention span is way too short to stick to just one subject. But I will add some more detailed info about the food here.

I honestly didn't expect to get much good food in close proximity to the base but was wrong. Not that I'm a gourmet or anything. My wife would say I'm in no position to rate Japanese food since I don't even eat natto. But I consider myself to have a broader palate than most and this is just my opinion anyway so.

I've been to around a dozen restaurants by now, most all of which have English menus and waitstaff that at least understand a moderate amount of English. You wouldnt know that just wandering the streets though. It didn't occur to me to take pics of them until now so I will attempt to put up pics, reviews and maps in the hopes that someone else might find it useful. So first review . . .

Location Map
Kozo Sushi is the actual name but locally this place is known as "The Pink Sushi Place" for obvious reasons. From the main street side it appears to be sushi takeout. But in the back is a small kaitensushi bar.

Kaitenzushi for those who don't know is the type of place where the sushi comes around on a conveyor and you just take what you want. The sushi is presented on plates of varying colors. Each plate color has a different price. When you're done eating they just count up how many plates of each color and tally the price. The positives are that if its busy the fish is fresh and the prices are usually very reasonable as compared to traditional sushi places. The negative is if its not busy the fish isn't fresh or you have to order each thing individually which is the same as going to any other sushi place.

I will take some pictures next time and add a conveyor belt sushi primer at some point just because there are some really interesting aspects of this type of dining.

So anyway this particular place is very good. When we went the place was full, it only seats about 16 people so if you bring the whole family be prepared to wait. We waited maybe 10 minutes to seat two. Most importantly they met the basic criteria for good sushi . . . warm rice/cold fish. The menu is available in English so you can identify what you're eating and how much it costs. The fare covers all the basics (salmon, tuna, mackerel, yellow tail, urchin, roe, natto, etc) along with some good interesting items. The overall experience was excellent, the food quality was definitely above average and the folks who run the place were super friendly and very accomodating to two non-Japanese speakers.

CAKE

2007-09-12T10:15:00.000-04:00

In a seedy karaoke bar
By the banks of the mighty Bosphorus
Is a Japanese man in a business suit singing 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'
And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians
While the overweight Americans wear their patriotic jumpsuits

Yet another pessimistic but I think poigniant lyric . . .

2007-07-15T23:21:00.000-04:00

There are no facts,
There is no truth,
Just data to be manipulated
I can get you any result you like....
What's it worth to ya?

Because there is no wrong,
There is no right
And I sleep very well at night
No shame, no solution
No remorse, no retribution

Just people selling t-shirts

- Don Henley "In the Garden of Allah"

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

2007-07-03T14:18:00.000-04:00

Back in May a coworker of mine, Catherine, got everyone hyped up for this JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. There seemed to be alot of interest in it initially but when it came time to sign up there were few takers. So in a moment of insanity or corporate team building spirit or whatever (trying to "set an example" or something like that) I signed up. Besides, it's a charity event, its a wellness event . . . how hard can it be to run 5 kilometers.

Pretty hard :)

I thought I'd be able to use it as a means to start getting some exercise and maybe drop a few pounds. And then I had to go to Kuwait. Kuwait isn't really the best place for training. Americans stick out like a sore thumb enough, imagine me running through the streets of Kuwait. Not to mention that the nighttime temps this time of year are around 100 deg F if you're lucky. There are treadmills in the office building we're in but I have a hard time getting motivated for treadmills.

So basically I came back to the US on June 18 with 10 days to prepare myself for this race. I ran every other day and managed to work my way to suffering through 2.5 miles. On race day all in all I did pretty well Id say. A total of 7 of us showed up to the Public Garden starting line and at the start there were 2 walkers and 5 "runners". I like to think that if I hadn't tried so hard to keep up with my co-workers for the first 2 miles that I might have actually run all 3.5 miles but in the end the two tiny hills where Comm Ave. crosses under Mass Ave killed me. Actually it was the second one (coming back).

But I managed to make it to just after Clarendon which is right around the 3 mile marker. After the fact I realized I had my strategy backwards. As I walked the last half-mile being passed by alot of folks I had passed previously when I was running I realized I should have walked the first mile. Then at least I'd have had the thrill of passing everyone in the end.

We all met at the White Horse Tavern in Allston after the race for a meal, alot of water and a little beer (very little actually since drinking while dehydrated isn't the best plan). Sadly none of us took pics but all you're missing is a picture of me sweating through 2 T-Shirts. Most importantly I'm hoping I can keep up the walking/running at home to get myself in a least some semblance of physical fitness.

Song Lyric For The Day

2007-06-21T17:51:00.000-04:00

Here comes another song about Mexico
I just can't help myself
I lost my old lady
Got my lures
Got my bobbers
Now I'm gonna go
Got off in the wrong direction
Found a hooker and lost my erection
So I had to lie
In the letter to the boys back home

The Refreshments

One of my favorite bands, Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy is a must own album. 12 tracks of the 12 tracks are wicked pissah tunes. Upbeat twangy riffs and toe-tapping drums with dark sarcastic lyrics . . . exactly my style.

Google Maps Street View

2007-06-10T04:16:00.000-04:00

Saw this cool thing that Google is previewing . . . Street View

In some areas, like San Francisco and NYC when you're searching google maps you have the option that I circled on the screenshot. You click on that and streets that you can view are highlighted in blue.

On the screen there's a little person cursor. You can click and drag it anywhere tht there's a blue street. Wherever it lands you get a full 360 degree rotatable, zoomable view of the street like I did above for Washington Square in NYC.

Pretty damn cool.

http://maps.google.com/maps

Vehicles and Death

2007-06-09T15:10:00.000-04:00

It's funny to observe different peoples' perspectives on military equipment. Consider a convoy loaded with 50 or so HMMVs; I usually think of taxpayer dollars and why do we need so many HMMVs while they're cutting teachers from my daughters elementary school. But most people are impressed and say "oh cool, look at that", kinda like the people who watch airshows thinking how cool it would be to fly a jet at 500mph 6 inches from the next plane. Military equipment can be quite impressive when collected in large quantities or when viewed from a civilian perspective, most people say "cool." Most people probably know the real purpose of tanks and HMMVs and fighter jets. I doubt most are ever really struck with the reality of what that equipment does to people on the receiving end of its intended use. Even fewer are faced with what the reality of what happens when that equipment (and the people in it) is on the receiving end of whatever equipment the opposing team is using.

So today as I was driving we crossed paths with a convoy and a pretty long one at that. Nobody was saying "cool." I actually had a patriotic moment which is a bit unusual for me. There were probably 2 dozen flat beds with all manner of military equipment, mostly tanks and HMMVs. These were not shiny and new however. Some stuff just really needed serious maintenance. Maybe they rolled the HMMV or locals slashed the tires and broke the mirrors off, stuff like that. But more than half of the equipment had been blown up, burnt out or otherwise destroyed. There were more than a handful of vehicles that there is no way the people driving them made it out with all their limbs. Some that I'm sure nobody made it out of alive.

Not really sure where Im heading with this post but its been bothering me for a few hours. I imagine those tanks and HMMVs will appear in my dreams tonight. I wish I could take pictures of this stuff, a convoy of blown up tanks and HMMVs elicits quite a different emotion than a yard full of brand new ones.

Copying the Jews

2007-06-04T15:37:00.001-04:00

The Kuwaitis are considering changing their weekend to Friday-Saturday. Currently the weekend is Thursday-Friday. Friday is the Islamic holy day. Other countries in the region have switched to the Fri-Sat weekend to match the business schedules of the rest of the world and so Kuwait is considering the same. Banks here already do it. Early in May the Cabinet was considering the change and just after I arrived the papers announced that the Cabinet had decided to go ahead with the change.

The Parliament however intends to review the idea because there is some opposition. Apparently, according to the two articles I read in the paper, there is concern that Kuwait is compromising its Islamic values. A legitimate concern in my opinion.

Unfortunately any credibility the opposition had was lost when they were quoted as basing their opposition also on not wanting to "copy the Jews."

I wish I had saved the newspaper stories because searching the papers online there is of course no mention of "copying the jews". Imagine if the Boston Globe ever published something like that.

Year #38 - Enshala

2007-06-03T08:47:00.001-04:00

I've been working on this post for almost a month now and Im at the point of "fuck it, here it is" . . .

Starting two years ago around this time, in the grand tradition of my dear dead friend Bob, I decided I was going to do the somewhat trendy “annual letter to my friends.” My 36^th year on this planet, 2004/2005, had been a very interesting and bizarre one (those of you who heard the stories of the marine aquarium conference fiasco might agree) and spurred me into action. However, as with most things of that nature in my life I never completely finished it and then realized it wasn’t necessarily something I wanted the world to know.

It wasn't easy jumping on the “memoir bandwagon.” I had a hard time typing out my thoughts at first, but once I got over the concept of talking to a keyboard I found I could go on endlessly. Those of you who really know me know that I’m very quiet and reserved, unless I trust you, at which point I turn into a blathering idiot spouting off endless detail about things you really didn’t care to know. So, although spectacularly cathartic for me personally, publishing the whole thing to the internet just never happened.

So now I sit here a month after the completion of my 38^th year reviewing a similar annual account of my life.

Suffice to say that year 38 gets mixed reviews. It started off in Kuwait which Maki called a mid-life crisis of sorts. She was thankful however that mine didn’t involve Harley’s or mistresses. Really I think Kuwait was part of coping with Bob’s death and the resulting feeling that I wasn’t doing something more meaningful with my life. (hehe, that’s kinda the definition of mid-life crisis I suppose so maybe Maki was right).

In the end I failed myself this year on many counts. Many times I failed to speak up when I knew I should, failed to make the best of bad situations, failed to move on from the past. But I also succeeded at all of those same things in many other respects. I have a better appreciation for my family and friends and what is important to me about them. The detailed account of this past year has alot about me that I don't care to expose to the world. I also would probably be fired for publishing some of the other stuff in there. So instead I'll sum up the year with these few bits of "no shit Sherlock" wisdom that somehow I keep learning over and over again although each time with a new twist.

“Do what’s good for you or you’re not good for anybody”

Always go with your gut instinct even if that means looking like an asshole.

Speak up immediately, if you delay the message is lost

“Sometimes family are the ones you choose”

2007-05-29T14:23:00.000-04:00

This guy walks off a plane and into Kuwait . . . could be the start of a great joke I bet but Im told that humor is not one of my talents. So I’m back in Kuwait for a few weeks, its 4AM on Tuesday and I can’t sleep. Honestly I’m thrilled to be here although it may not show on my face (social graces and projecting my inner feeling to others are yet more things crossed off my list of talents). The timing kinda sucks but then the timing is never right to leave your family for any period of time I guess.

The flight over was decent. Since my last trip out here United has started a non-stop to KWI from Washington DC. Used some miles to upgrade to business class and had a pretty decent 13 hour flight. The airport is the same, people seem the same, although this time immigration was different. Instead of just showing my ID and walking through with some Arabic numbers scribbled on the back of it I actually had to get a visa and stamp in my passport. This is a good thing I suppose because it seems to be mostly related to security at the places we’re working so I shouldn’t complain, but I will.

They have a ticket system like at the deli, push a button get a ticket, and wait for your number to be called. Push button, Im number 67, now serving, 6. They’ve got 8 people behind the counter, 4 of whom are actually working from what I can tell, 2 of them productively. Apparently the attitude of government employees is another of the similarities between Kuwait and US culture.

Yet another similarity is how locals know the system and are willing to exploit its weaknesses at the expense of others. You know how it is theres always someone who feels they don’t need to wait in line so they just storm right up to the counter and demand service, with very few exceptions they always get served mostly to avoid confrontation I think. And lest anyone thing Im speaking badly of arabs its not arabs I mean when I say locals, its anyone who knows the system here including a number of Americans I watched cut in line. The Americans had a methodology though, they would wait until someone didn’t show up for a number that was called then walk up just before they switched to the next pretending that they just realized it was their number up their. I watch two people with numbers over 90 go in front of me. For better or worse, probably out of fear of confrontation, I waited my turn. The wait wasn’t too bad, it took only slightly longer to get through immigration than it did for me to fly from Boston to Washington DC.

The ride to the villa quickly reminded me of the driving skills of the people of Kuwait. A warm welcome to the villa by Laveena, followed by friends and coworkers arriving shortly thereafter to watch the Indy 500 and I felt as if I’d never left.

Michale Jackson is a brown person?

2007-05-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

So we're watching VH1 "Top Songs of the 80's" and Billy Jean comes in around 4. They show the video and the cover of the album and the following dialog ensues:

Mia : "Thats Michael Jackson!?"
Me and Maki : "Yes"
Mia : "he's the guy who sings that song Smooth Criminal that I like?" (she actually prefers the Alien Ant Farm cover but knows the MJ version)
Me : "Yup"
Mia : "Michael Jackson is a brown person?" (no disrespect meant to African-Americans)
Maki and I erupt into laughter.

I guess having grown up around Michael Jackson's eccentricity I've just kind of accepted watching him grow from the talented little "brown" boy he was to the disturbing nose-less whitish thing hes become.

2007-05-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

So I saw this story in the news last week.

N.Y. Couple Faces Forced Labor Charges

By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wed May 16, 9:20 AM

MINEOLA, N.Y. - A millionaire couple were arrested on federal charges that they kept two Indonesian women as slaves in their swank Long Island home for more than five years, beating and abusing them and paying them almost nothing.

Authorities uncovered the alleged abuse after one of the women was found by police wandering outside a doughnut shop Sunday morning wearing only pants and a towel.

The story continues on in more detail about the abuse of these two women. This story reminded me of a news story about Kuwaiti diplomats from a couple months ago . . .

Servants: Diplomat Held Us as Suburban 'Slaves'

Three former servants are suing a Kuwaiti diplomat, alleging that he treated them like slaves in his suburban home in Washington, D.C. The workers are poor women from India, and they say the diplomat worked them for more than 15 hours a day. They also claim his wife beat one of them repeatedly.

More importantly though it reminded me of countless stories from locals in Kuwait about the abuse of servants. Servants are often treated like animals. I would say pets but first off most people in Kuwait dont keep pets and most pets I know are treated better than what Ive heard of servant treatment.

ECC's housekeeper (Laveena) has burn scars on her arms resulting from an incident with a previous house-mistress. I forget the details of how the initial burns happened, something about hot oil flashing in a pan when Laveena was awakened at some ungodly hour to make food for her employers. The scars however resulted not so much form the burns themselves as much as from the house mistress disallowing Laveena to keep the burns bandaged. This resulted in an infection at which point Laveena quit I believe. Of course in a country where servants must be sponsored to stay in the country you cant really quit your job. Laveena had to buy her freedom from her employer at the cost of a few months salary. Essentially the employer was holding her passport and refused to give it up unless she paid them. A friend of hers who's house-mistress would wake her when she was needed by poking her in the head with a hot curling iron. There are plenty of other stories just like this.

BTW, Laveena makes roughly $500 a month. This pay rate was a significant increase over the rate she was paid to be scarred for life. Many servants work for 1/3 of that amount in much worse conditions. Laveena went home to India last month for a short vacation, her first time home, her first time seeing her family, in five years. In those five years her sister had a son, and her family built a house with the money Laveena has been sending home. A house with plumbing and a roof (things her family didn't have when she left for Kuwait). Even knowing Laveena, hearing the stories first hand, seeing the scars I still cant comprehend this kind of existence.

Yes it does grow . . .

2007-05-16T10:58:00.000-04:00

Reef tanks are kinda like children. One day you realize how much they've grown without you even noticing it. From time to time I take pictures of the tank, usually when Im thinking of cutting something into pieces to sell off. Since it's BRS auction time I was thinking of fragging (reefspeak for fragmenting or cutting something into a bunch of pieces) the mushroom leather so I took some pics in preparation for posting at the BRS website. So as I was looking at the pics of the leather I was about to take a razor knife to, I started comparing the pics of the tank from January until now and was quite pleasantly surprised.

This pic above is of the left side of the tank. The left side of the pic was taken last week. The right side was taken on January 11th. I knew the stuff was growing but didn't realize how much it had grown in just 4 months.

This next picture is not the best but its of a colony of two SPS corals that I got from my good friend Dawn. The purple-ish stick looking coral is an acropora that has been very successfully propagated around Boston for quite some time. The original frag of it came from the New England Aquarium reef tank (that sounds alot cooler than it really is). I dont know the name of the greenish coral with big brown polyps in the back. Its a rather average SPS coral, not that cool in coloring, but it grows well especially under moderate lighting. The growth on this is far more than I expected given the lighting and lack of consistent calcium supplementation.

In the end I decided not to frag that leather and instead moved the brain to the other side of the tank to give the leather room to spread its wings. At some point though I will frag it though. That's one of the focuses of the BRS and things I enjoy most about reefkeeping. Trading and selling captive bred corals helps reduce stress on wild reefs. Every coral in the ECC Reef is "aquacultured" (aka grown in a tank). Even the two clowns are captive bred, born and raised in Rhode Island . . . they don't have that half Boston, half Long Island accent though.

The ECC Office Reef

2007-05-09T12:40:00.000-04:00

I had this sudden urge to start blogging again. Spent a lot of time revamping the layout, adding widgets, etc. Then couldn't think of what the hell I had wanted to write. So I figure I'll try and prime the pump with something about the office "fish tank."

We'd been talking about putting an aquarium in the office since back before I left for Kuwait. We held off pending an office move that happened the week after I left. So upon my return the discussion resumed. admittedly I wasn't that excited about the idea at first. I had been before but when faced with actually trying to plan it I was concerned about long term maintenance. I got over it though.

I have a few years experience in the hobby and a few friends who have gone on from hobbyist to LFS owner (thats Local FIsh Store). So working with my friend Mike at Aqua Addicts, we ended up with a 75-gallon tank. Since its in the lobby of the office we budgeted a little more on the tank side of things to get a nice maple finish stand and canopy. Mike got me almost everything else we started off with except the light fixture. The light fixture came at a bargain deal via the annual Boston Reefers Society auction. So in October 2006 it finally got set up:

75-gallon All-Glass tank, stand and canopy
All-Glass Model 2 Sump
EuroReef RS80 Skimmer
MagDrive 9.5 return pump
Aquactinics 5x54W T-5 light fixture
apprx. 80lbs of new Tonga live rock

After a month of listening to "I thought it was going to be a fish tank not a rock tank" I moved my pair of percula clown fish from my 29-gallon at home into the office. They certainly appreciated the room to breathe. Since we were on an accelerated startup schedule thanks to constant harassment from office-mates within the next couple weeks the tank was fully stocked with coral and rock from my 29g and some new fish from some LFS and one online order.

Now that the tank has been up over 6 months it pretty stable and looks decent. We lost quite a few fish in the beginning (too much too soon I guess) which I'm not proud of. There is a small but persistent algae problem, particularly on the right side of the tank where flow isn't as good as I'd like it. But given the limitations of it being in the office I think it turned out damn good.

A couple before I go . . .

2006-08-18T04:15:00.000-04:00

Looks like IM coming back home. Later than initially planned but sooner than I thought after arriving here. So a couple last things I guess . . .

Driving here is absolute insanity. Kuwait must have one of the highest rates of automobile realted fatalities in the world. The speed limit here on the highways is 120KPH which is about 75MPH. But traffic police dont give tickets here, cameras do, and there are signs warning you where the cameras are. So generally people drive upwards of 160KPH (100 MPH) until they get to the cameras at which point they slow down to 120 (not far in advance I might add).

They also love to weave and love to ride right on your tail. If you're traveling slower than someone coming up behind you they will flash their lights and come right up on your tail. This is not something Im entirely unfamiliar with being from Massachusetts, but these people take it to an entirely different level. We drive SUVs and most times I can hardly see the heads of the guys who come up behind me if I dont get right out of the way. I just keep waiting for the bump. If you dont move they just head into the breakdown lane on your left and pass you kicking up every bit of debris and dust in the process.

Admittedly I love driving fast and the roads are straight and flat. I certainlt have done my share of speeding however theres this little bell in the car that rings incessantly when you exceed 120. Anyway the point of this is . . . there are no fender benders here. Every Saturday morning there is a new batch of wrecks along the highway.

Back From Tokyo

2006-07-18T15:30:00.000-04:00

Well Im back in Kuwait from Tokyo. We didnt really do much more in Japan after my last blog so not much to show other than pics of the family and me leaving. So here they are . . .

This one is a night we all went to dinner. Yakiniku is a favorite of ours right up with sushi. Maki's brother drove up to see us and to introduce his fiance and so we all went for Yakiniku one night. The pic is Maki's Mom, Maki's sister Kasumi, Maki's brother Kenji, his fiance Naomi, Mia, Ryota (Kasumi's son), and of course the white guy.

So I left Japan to head back to Kuwait on the 9th.

The trip back was . . . well interesting is a good word. Despite flying on company dollars I am never inclined to pay alot for a flight so I got a good $1000 savings by flying Thai Airlines. the trick for this trip was that on the return trip I had to spend a night in Bangkok. My flight was delayed so we landed after 10pm. Bangkok isnt what Id call a user-friendly airport so after walking the airport end to end twice I finally found someone to explain to me how to use the hotel voucher I had. So around midnight I made it through immigration, got my bag and got a shuttle to the hotel. I've stayed in worse places is about all I can say about the hotel. The people were very nice. Despite the fact that it was now 1:30am (or maybe because of that fact) the bellhop asked me no less than 6 times if he should send up the Thai masseuse. Having heard plenty of Thai masseuse stories and not being into that sort of thing (not to mention being dead tired) I politely declined, curled up on the bed and passed out. I kinda wished I had more time in Bangkok though. I'm told you can get a taxi to drive you to see all the sights of Bangkok in a couple hours for about $15. At least then I would have seen something other than dirty city streets and sleazy hotels. Instead I woke up at 9, saw the same stretch of dirty road from hotel to airport in the morning and caught a 11:50am flight to Dubai/Kuwait.

And so now here I sit in Kuwait again. No longer at the hotel anymore though, we've moved to a villa. It's a 5 bedroom, 6000 sq ft house. And even after furnishing it, it still costs us less than the hotel for even 3 people. I'll write more about it once I download the pics of my bedroom but this is what it looks like form the front . . . .

Hello from Tokyo

2006-07-06T10:50:00.000-04:00

First a quick Kuwait election update . . . John Belushi lost to a guy named "Ahmed Larry" (Im not kidding about that, I think its kinda like being Jackie Chan or Lucy Liu). More importantly, no women were elected to Parliament. Not a big surprise but sad anyway, at least in my opinion. Hopefully some will win next time. I'd like to think too that they've at least shaken the guys up a bit :)

Also for my cousin Derrick, I knew who it was before I even got to your initials :) The air quality sucks, its like living in a giant refinery 24/7 not to mention that the locals smell worse than the camels. The burgers are pretty good actually, Im told they raise the cattle in the northern countries of the Middle East where there are green grassy hills and stuff like that. Maybe like Wisconsin but with a larger fanatical militant Islamic population. Theres a Burger King every few blocks in Kuwait City and maybe you knew this maybe not but the US Military builds and operates more Burger Kings, Pizza Huts and Subways than anyone. Theres one of each at almost every base Ive been to, some have 2 or 3 of each. My company is actually building a BK right now at a base in Florida.

Kuwait out of the way, now I can say Im writing this from Tokyo. When the hell did I become such a world traveller? I think maybe I've now set foot in as many countries as I have US States. Of course Ive never left the airports of most of them but still . . .

So Im here on R&R which is different from vacation because the company pays for my plane fare and the time off doesnt come out of my vacation time. Its a "perk" of working in a foreign country. Somehow I dont exactly agree with the use of the term "perk" but if it makes the boss feel better about paying for the trip . . . so be it.

I met up with Maki and Mia on the 27th and we've been at my in-laws since the 28th. We havent really done much to talk about honestly which makes it a true vacation as far as Im concerned. As you can see from the picture below, mostly Ive done alot of Resting and Relaxing like Im supposed to be doing.

Some of you may have seen this pose before. Its a pretty common pose for the men of the Tess family but alas Im just an amateur. For the perfect example of this pose I suggest a picture of my dad at any given family gathering. Even Jamey has this down better than I could ever hope to. Jamey's even got the snoring perfected.

As for Tokyo, Im much happier hanging out at Starbucks in Shibuya watching people than rushing from landmark to landmark. Theres nothing more interesting than people watching in big cities. And Tokyo is about the biggest and busiest Ive been in.

Shibuya Starbucks

More of Shibuya at night

We did do some sight-seeing today though. Conveniently one of our friends from back home is here spending the summer with her family. She lives in a city called Kamakura which has alot of historical sights the most popular of which is the Daibutsu (a giant statue of Buddha). We went to visit with them and see some sights while we were there. So heres more photos . . .

Me and Mia at the Daibutsu
(no buddha is not the one in the orange t-shirt)

Mia wishing all her bad karma away.
What kind of bad karma can an 8 year old possibly have?

Maki and Mia at a shrine dedicated

to the Shogun who ruled
Japan something like 700 years ago.

The one thing that always strikes me about Japan is how much longer their history is than the US. To us pilgrim stuff from 1620 is old. Today I saw armor and a womans Kimono from the the Shogun who ruled from Kamakura. He ruled from 1192 to 1333 - the Kamakura Period. We also saw some coins brought to Japan from China in 672.

But really I just like to go to these places for the gardens. Even before I met Maki I loved Japanese gardens. Visiting all of the shrines and temples is very calming. Somehow even with tourists running around these places still seem peaceful.

Mia and Maki walking through
a garden at Hase Temple in Kamakura.

Mia in amongst the bamboo

So thats it for today. BTW, I put some links in above for anyone interested in Japan-stuff. I'll try and get another Japan installment done before I go back to Kuwait.
But before I go, one last parting photo . . .

Mia and her friend Mika after eating spaghetti with squid ink sauce,
its one of Maki's favorites and honestly it tastes pretty good.

John Belushi Isnt Dead!!

2006-06-22T16:39:00.000-04:00

John Belushi is actually alive and well and living in Kuwait. And in true comic fashion, he's running for a seat in Parliament. No Im not photoshopping this, this is a real guy running for parliament. Anyway, after a long break I actually have a bunch of things to write. Going to start with politics.

At the beginning of June the Kuwaiti's began their Parliament election process. I dont know how often they do it or exactly how it works to tell you the truth. I know they start nominations in late May or early June and the elections are June 29. With only 1 month to campaign, the candidates here make our local city council candidates look like amateurs. As you can see from the few pics Ive put here, instead of simple 3' x 4' signs with someones name alot of the parliament candidates here put up full billboards, 8' high signs and such with full color glossy glamour shots of themselves.

As if the barrage of signs wasnt enough they also set up areas to entertain potential voters. I've put a picture of that here too.
Right off one of the main highways I use to get to work there are half a dozen or more tents. Apparently they feed people, serve them drinks, non-alcoholic of course ;), and try to win their votes. They have camel rides for the kiddies and sheep to pet too.

On a more serious note the newspapers are of course always full of election stories. Not really because there are any big issues but because this is the first time women will be allowed to run for Parliamentary seats. There are about 500 candidates for Im not sure how many seats. About 10% of the candidates are women. And all manner of women at that. From women in full birkha covered from head to toe to very western type women like you'd see at home. There is no lack of defacing women's posters and angry remarks in the papers about women holding a man's position. Its quite interesting to see something that we dont think twice about generate quite a bit of controversy here.

Cool fact for today - Kuwait has very little infrastructure water. Most houses have 500 or 1000 gallon tanks on the roof as a water source. They fill these from tankers that run around selling water. Water costs approximately $5.86 per gallon. Gasoline costs approximately $0.87 per gallon.

Work and People

2006-06-11T05:17:00.000-04:00

So my Aunt Joany asked what I’m doing for work and what I think of the people.

WORK

I’m working on projects for the US Military. Even though they talk a lot about pulling out of Iraq and such the US is actually increasing its presence in the Middle East. It's all temporary construction, at least temporary for the US, but there's a lot of stuff going on here. The main installation we're working at is about 2 sq miles.

I’ve got projects in the works at three installations. From the image I included here you can see a two of them (Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem AB). The third is not identified on the map. Actually there is great detail for that third place on Google it’s just not called out as a military base, I’m assuming for a reason. I got that map right off of Google Earth so its not classified or anything. There’s even more detailed info at www.globalsecurity.org although that info is a bit dated, probably intentionally.

It’s a bit humorous actually. They won’t let me take pictures on-base without an escort, they won’t give me electronic maps of the bases, but I can get a picture from Google with enough detail to count HMMVs in the parking lots.

Anyway, I’m rambling as usual, essentially the work we’re doing is constructing small (or maybe not so small) cities. The projects are running utility lines (water, sewer, electric) and erecting buildings for various uses (vehicle maintenance, dining facilities, etc). Routine stuff nothing that’s Top Secret or Classified, just things that generally make soldiers’ lives a little more bearable out here. Which I suppose is probably why I can tolerate working for the military. I honestly was a little conflicted about coming out here since I’m generally opposed to war, Iraq in particular. I actually find it more nerve-wracking eating lunch with a few hundred 18-20 yrs old guys carrying automatic weapons than I do walking around the streets of Kuwait at night.

PEOPLE

Actual Kuwaiti’s make up less than 40% of the population of Kuwait. My real contact with true Kuwaiti’s is limited to about 6 people, mostly business owners of either subcontractors or of our corporate sponsor here. Kuwaiti’s and most everyone I’ve met in Kuwait are very nice people. Very friendly, very laid back. I’ve not met anyone here that I didn’t like or even felt that anyone really disliked Americans. Maybe I’m naïve but they don’t seem judgmental at all and seem very accepting of others. It’s certainly not a country of religious zealots hell bent on the destruction of western ideas.

The people are super polite. I’m "Mr. Robert" to everyone, with an occasional “Sir” thrown in when dealing with Indians usually. I’ve taken to the same way of addressing people since they seem to like it that way.

With the exception of their driving (which makes Boston look like the Pike from Sturbridge to the NY border) they don’t rush to do anything. Their way of doing business is exactly opposite of the US. It’s more about relationships than contracts. A typical business meeting is about 30 minutes of tea/coffee/water and socializing followed by a 2 minute business discussion then one more cup of tea and handshake and goodbye. They push to get a promise to do business but actually getting a contract and doing work takes time. There’s an Arabic word “enshala” which means “god willing” that basically personifies the Kuwaiti attitude. They do everything at their own pace and “enshala” the work will get done. The typical “I need it yesterday” American way just doesn’t cut it here. It’s a bit frustrating but it makes for very relaxed easy to deal with people (at least on the Kuwaiti side, our American clients still operate in the American way).

Other than Kuwaiti’s the population is mostly Indian, Phillipino, Sri Lankan, Egyptian and Lebanese. Only Kuwaiti’s can actually be citizens and own businesses so essentially everyone else here is on a Residence Visa that has to be sponsored by a Kuwaiti employer. The Lebanese seem to run all of the restaurants. The Indians seem to run most of the laundries. Indians, Lebanese and other Arabs also hold a lot of the banking and finance related jobs. Most of the engineers are Indian and Phillipino. And the physical labor force (servants, hotel workers, construction) is mostly Phillipino, Sri Lankan and a variety of other people from “developing countries”.

The culture here is very mixed. I’ve added a couple of pictures taken from the
Marina Mall. They’re blurry but you can see that a lot of people are dressed in jeans and t-shirts. There are just as many dressed in the traditional “dish-dasha” which is the traditional white robe and head-covering that you think of when you think of Arabic culture. There most common dress for the muslim women that I see is a combined thing where they wear a head scarf showing their face completely, then a kind of long shirt that has a skirt ending just below the hips, and jeans.

There is plenty of western culture here. The malls are filled with a lot of the same stores as back home. The malls are full of kids having a great time hanging out with friends and going to the movies (there a 6 theater cinema at the Marina Mall). And they all cruise the food court looking for members of the opposite sex. There are no bars or nightclubs per se so the mall is the place to be. That or they talk to each other between cars as they drive up and down Arabian Gulf Street.

I also attached a picture of the hotel swimming pool. The non-traditional women here wear bikini’s and the men wear Speedos or shorts. There are certainly women around that don’t put on bathing suits at all but there are plenty of locals who dress the same as they do in the states for a day at the pool. There is an uptight side to the culture but everyone is friendly to everyone. Its not uncommon to see different levels of dress within a family, a woman in full robes sitting and talking to a woman in a bathing suit in the pool.

OK its hard to talk about the people without getting into a million other subjects so I’m just going to stop here. More later . . .

I see dead people . . .

2006-06-05T09:18:00.000-04:00

So I lied. I said the next installment would be about similarities between Kuwait and Miami. I decided however that it would be totally uninteresting for me to ramble on about every little detail of my trip and tell everyone how similar it is here to home. So instead of telling you about palm trees, sandy beaches, wave runners and hot weather . . .

Every morning I open my hotel room door and like every other hotel in the world I am greeted by a newspaper at my feet. But there are no USA Today's here in Kuwait. No moderate commentary or oddly interesting little front page polls.

Sunday morning I opened my door to find the picture you see here staring up at me. No its not an add for the newest Johnny Depp Pirates of the Carribean box office smash. Its an actual picture of a skeleton found in a mass grave in Iraq.

Journalism in Kuwait is blunt to say the least. I dont think a day has passed where there havent been full color pictures of dead bodies in the paper. From car crashes to babies killed in earthquakes its all here. A startling dose of reality. It's mostly car crashes here because Kuwait has one of the highest automobile fatality rates in the world but theres always a good shot of a guy caught by a car bomb with no skin on his legs or some such story. And the odd part is that there is rarely a story to go with the picture. There's always a caption but most likely the editor has simply stuck the photo in the middle of a page of unrelated stories, as was the case with the pic I put here, no story just a picture and caption surrounded by stories about the upcoming elections.

I cant even imagine what would happen if US papers started printing stuff like this on a daily basis.

Rob's Kuwait Blog

2006-05-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

Howdy everyone! Decided since so many are asking what its like here in Kuwait that rather than send endless strings of emails Id just join the rest of the Blogging world.

Kuwait is not at all like I expected and I've been here a few weeks now so I'll have to back track a bit.

I arrived here on May 4, 2006 after a long trip from Boston first to Frankfurt then to Kuwait. I had heard that Lufthansa was a premier airline, not necessarily true. The planes had been recently refitted with seats etc and the business and first class cabins seemed very nice. But I was in coach and I've yet to fly coach on any airline and call it a great trip.

I only had a 1 hr layover in Frankfurt and Frankfurt isnt exactly user friendly ( Frankfurt makes O'Hare look easy) so there wasnt even any time for a last beer (Kuwait is a dry country) or even to exchange a dollar for euros just for fun.

I cant really sleep on planes and total flight time is around 14 hours including layovers so by the time I got to Kuwait Int'l I had been awake for about 28 hours. Not a great way to come in to what I would describe as a shady customs process at best.

Kuwait Int'l is alot like your typical small US airport like TF Green, Chicago Midway, etc. Its got one main strip of gates, a main entry area with a Burger King, a couple ATMs, thats about it. Pretty much a typical airport experience, except for the folks walking around in traditional Middle Eastern garb and me not understanding a single word of arabic.

The most interesting part of the trip over by far was getting through customs. Im not exactly sure how widely known this process is, and its only allowed for people with military IDs, but it doesnt seem to be a secret.

You walk to the end of the terminal and theres a desk that says "Visas". You walk right past that desk and take an escalator down to where the Kuwait Customs Agents are. You wait in a line and when its your turn you hand the agent your military ID (called a Common Access Card - CAC). The agent takes a white label, sticks it on the back of your card and writes a number on it. Then the agent waves you through the gate. That's it, no questions, no papers for you to sign, no limit on how long you can stay, nothing. At no point in the process do you ever show anyone your passport. So like I said, shady at best.

So after that process, which admittedly had me nervous, a Bangladeshi guy grabbed my bags (whether I wanted him to or not) and had me in the hotel shuttle. I had gotten Kuwaiti Dinar at an ATM but I didnt have any small bills. I tipped him $3 US (about 1 Kuwaiti Dinar) and he seemed glad for it. Found out later that these guys make about 40KD a month so a 1KD tip is far more than expected (they must love us americans).

Stopping here for today. Maybe Im providing too much info I dont know but what the hell . . . blogger is free.

Next installment . . . Kuwait looks alot like Miami.