Saudi Arabia Lacking Physical-ness

We were talking, a fellow expat and I, just last night about how Saudi Arabia lacks physical-ness.  The general consensus from western sporty types is that Saudi's are, in short, soft.  It reminded me of a blog post I started to write a long while back (over two years ago by my calculations), but never finished, which is sometimes what happens to my posts.  I throw them onto the draft page in a rush of bleh! and then let them lie.  Here's how that post started...

My photo album is full of my grand kids enjoying the outdoors and engaging in healthy physical activity.  It's great that they love to run and jump and climb trees and walls and swing over jungle gyms with carefree abandon.  They enjoy swimming at the beach, splashing about in waves.  Or kicking a rugby ball, throwing a frisbee or bouncing on the trampoline.  Watching them reminds me of the days and times we spent with our own kids on the front lawn playing cricket or touch rugby.  Heck, we still enjoy getting out on the front lawn to play with the kids.    Saudi, at least the Saudi I live in, is not that physical.   In the cooler evenings our park is full of maids doing most of the leg work for the kids - pushing them on the swings, pumping the see-saw for them, lifting them onto trikes and lifting them off again.  It's disheartening to see a three year old, who is quite capable of being taught to climb the ladder to a plastic slide on their own, waiting with arms raised in the air, oft times accompanied by hollering, for his maid to hoist him up past the four or five rungs he'd have to clamber up so he can sit atop the platform.  And hollering again for the maid to hold his hand on the way down.   And the parents?  Why, the parents have abandoned their children to maids in favour of sitting in the coffee shop oblivious to what may be happening at the park with their offspring.  The older kids get tired of the limited space, so start annoying each other till their annoyance winds up at the coffee shop, whining to their parents who shoo them back to the house with a wave to argue over the latest whizz bang battle games!

This post was going to go on about the difference in attitude to physical activity for children and adults in Saudi Arabia (well, my part of Riyadh anyways), and the almost total lack of participation by the parents with their kids games.

I could continue my ramble about the lack of physicality in Saudi (as I had intended to do initially), but I won't.  That would be extremely negative and today is a beautiful day - like most days in Saudi - so instead I'll ply you avid readers with positive situation updates.  (Did I hear some of you say 'Buggar that...I want Gossip! You are Sad People!)

Here's some updates.

• In December 2012 this article was printed in the Arab News '1,000 Youth Clubs To Be Set Up'.  It is hoped the new clubs will 'help youth practice their hobbies and engage in social, cultural and sports activities' and 'develop their skills and capabilities'.  
• In May 2013 this report, 'Saudi allows some girls' schools to offer sport' was a step toward physical education for girls in private schools and a month later...
•  Saudi officially opened its first sports center for women.

Also opened in Riyadh recently are children's activity centers like My Gym and, coming soon, Gymboree.

All these initiatives have my support (not that they need my support, but I'm just saying).  It all sounds very positive and there is hope that these programs will encourage Saudi folks off the couch and out of the shopping malls from a very young age.

The party line handed down to the locals for the implementation of these activity centers is along the lines of 'health and wellness'.  However, I get the feeling the point of the youth clubs, women's sports centers and kiddie gyms isn't just to cater to the issues of bored youth and obesity related health issues plaguing the country at the moment.  The real point is to harden up Saudi Arabia's future generations and nip in the bud the current, generally accepted idea that Saudi's lack the characteristics needed to grow their country in the hard times ahead, because all predictions are harder times are comin!

I'm talking about the stuff pioneers of the past possessed when they left their homes in search of something better.  Things like courage, daring, fortitude, work ethic, dedication, commitment, self-determination, creativity, patience, strength.  The ability to endure hardships and set backs, to persevere.  Never giving up.  Having grit.  Thinking outside the square.  Problem solving.  Taking the bull by the horns.  Knowing how to co-operate with others and truly respecting others as you work towards a common goal.  Knowing how to respond to victory and, just as importantly, how to regroup and start again after a defeat.
That kind of stuff.
Isn't it amazing what sport has the potential to do for a country!

I get the feeling that the joke going around that Saudi has Pakistan in its back pocket to fight its battles because the locals would run away from a fight is like grit in the mouth to some local leaders.  (A number of folks I've spoken to on the ground are perfectly happy with that plan because anything that reduces the number of Pakistani's in the world suits them just fine, thanks!)

Anyway... back on track.
It's great that the Powers That Be of Saudi Arabia are doing their bit for Saudi's future through providing youth clubs and sports centers for all, regardless of their actual reasons for it.  Next step is to get the parents involved in their children's activities and tell the maids to back off!

Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Metered Taxis in Saudi

According to Arab News, metered taxis are to make an appearance in Riyadh.  I have to say, this news was slightly confusing as I presumed metered taxi's were already here!  Most taxi's I've ever been in have a meter.  Whether or not the driver actually uses it is a different story.

It's well known that you can haggle a fare with a taxi driver in Riyadh. In fact, it's common for most people to sort out the fare details before hopping into the taxi.  And if you don't like the price, find another taxi.  In the early days I used to haggle with street hailed taxi driver's when Mr Noor was on the other side of town and his ETA for pick up was longer than I fancied.

When catching a taxi outside Kingdom, for example, I would go from taxi to taxi looking for a reasonable price because after being driven by Mr Noor, who always uses his meter (for us anyway), I know what the meter fare is from Kingdom to our place.  The drivers waiting at cab ranks always, without fail, cranked up the price.  They were also always, without fail, Arab drivers.  (I gather they hike prices to cover the fact they sit at cabs ranks all day instead of actually going out and finding fares!)

These days I do two things when catching taxi's outside Kingdom.  I completely bypass the cab rank, walk up the road a bit and hail a taxi driven by a non-Arab.  They, I have found, are less likely to rip you off.  They also, usually, have their meter turned on and if they do I don't bother haggling, I simply pay the meter rate.  The drivers are ecstatic when I do that because very few Riyadh passengers pay meter rates. Which makes me wonder if this grand announcement that meters are coming to Riyadh actually means anything.

When I hop in the taxi, the first thing I do is look to see if the meter is turned on.  If it's not visible (which isn't often) I ask 'Where is your meter?' and can guarantee broken English response that goes something like 'New car, no meter'.  Of course I think they are full of crap.

It turns out they aren't actually talking BS at all. I mentioned this situation to Mr Noor and he explained that, when the owner brings over a replacement car he can't make it legal till he gets rid of the old car because two cars cannot share the same company license number or meter.

Only once the old car is history can the meter be fitted to the new vehicle and the car number painted on the back, making it legal.  Until then, though he's not supposed to, the owner allows both cars to work. After all, he usually has a driver who is keen and he's not going to argue with the extra money coming in, is he?  With that explanation I now have no real reason to diss 'no meter' drivers for talking nonsense.  I will however diss them for charging above meter rates!

If the meter is turned off, I ask the taxi driver to turn it on.  Most do so, quite happily, and as I said before, I quite happily pay meter rates.  (I presume it's turned off because so few passengers actually pay it any attention).  Some drivers, however, say something akin to  'Meter, No working' while tapping the meter with their fingers and waving their hand around after doing so, as if for emphasis.  That just gets my back up and I'm determined they ain't getting one halala extra (now that halala are actually going to be in circulation in Saudi) because I don't believe them!

So then I ask 'How much' for the fare and almost without fail 'missing' or 'broken meter' taxi drivers try to rack up the price.  If I can be bothered arguing, I do.  If I can't I simply say 'No, too much', and pay what I know to be the meter rate once I've got out of the car at rides end.

Never pay while still in the car, that would be risking locked doors and entering into pointless, circular discussion.  So I get out, then pay and if they grumble they do so to my back as I walk away usually after saying, 'Fix your meter'  in my best Arabic.  (I realised one day that I was saying 'Air condition your meter', because I got the two words confused, but hei aha, I'm sure they got the point).

If meter use becomes a must in Riyadh taxi's I can see the honest drivers being ripped off because here's something the Powers That Be don't seem to understand - Most passengers don't want to pay meter rates! 

It was quite common when I first arrived in Saudi (and I haven't asked Mr Noor about it for some time) for passengers to hand over their money rolled up and once unraveled, for it to be short most of the fare!  And where, pray tell, do honest taxi drivers go to complain about such unscrupulous passengers?  The same place they've always had.  Nowhere.

Commentators have said the metered taxi hooha will have a short life in Saudi.  Apparently it was tried once before a few years back  and the people simply didn't pay full fare, so bargaining with the meter turned off came back into vogue.

What was worrying about the report was this paragraph...

"Trip fares are currently determined through bargaining between the customer and the taxi driver, but with the introduction of metered fare, taxi drivers will be required to pay higher amounts to their employers daily when this decision is applied."

Why the heck are the employers going to get more money?
They aren't doing anything new!
And if they spit out some pissy reason like 'to cover the cost of putting meters in the taxi's' - they own a taxi company!  The loan from the bank to start the company already includes the cost of meters for goodness sakes, and if it doesn't it shows what bad management the company has.  Why the hell do the company owners need to fleece any more off hard working drivers, which is what most taxi drivers are!  Of course, there are the few that stuff it up for the rest giving taxi's a bad name.  Or maybe I've just been really fortunate with the taxi's I catch in Saudi.


Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Saudi Retail: Big Boys v The Corner Store

An article I was reading recently in  MEED, Middle East Business Intelligence, about the Saudi retail sector made me ponder about the possible demise of the corner store.  It wasn't the article itself that caused the ponderance.  It was the information gleaned from it in combination with and a piece in the Arab News, read not 15 minutes later, that got me thinking.

Not being a business wiz I have no idea if these two concepts are as connected as I thought (the only reason I was scanning through these articles was because they were on the coffee table of the waiting room I was lounging around in) but here is what sprang to mind...

Basically the MEED article said something along the lines that, currently, Saudi retail is mostly driven by the small corner store operation and there is lots of room for consolidation.

If you're one of the Big Boys I guess there's nothing wrong with that idea.  In theory, closing your small operations in preference for bigger 'everything under one roof' shopping barns helps reduce costs and supposedly gives the consumer better prices due to the Big Boys buying power.

However, consolidation also, unfortunately, gets rid of the small, local 'corner store', taking away the shop owners (and highly likely, their families) livelihood and tends to help the rich get richer, leaving the little guy wondering WTF!  Let's face it, that is exactly what has happened everywhere else around the world and quite frankly, down in Kiwiland, it hasn't been a good thing.  (I wonder how you say WTF! in Arabic?).

The piece I read in the Arab News was about Saudi Arabia's high unemployment and possible strategies for dealing with it.  The hierarchy in Saudi have, to paraphrase the article, made the following call to the local masses - 'Start your own business!  Don't wait for cushy government jobs or highly competitive private sector employment.  Get out there and be independent business owners'.  And to help them out the Government is cleaning expats out of the corner stores so that young, motivated, hard working, business savvy yet currently unemployed Saudi's can take their places.

The articles made me wonder who's going to come out on top in Saudi retail.  The Big Boys.  Or the independent business owner operating the local store.

Given that Saudi seems to be following global patterns in its 'westernisation' and that only a small few hold the reigns to, well, everything (and seem to like it that way), I don't hold out high hopes for any future independent Saudi business owner.

That's what I was pondering that day in the office.
Of course, if I'm way off base, please enlighten me.

Saudi Pulse And Women's Rights

The Arab News has a section called Saudi Pulse for local journalists to have their say.  One item in particular caught my attention the other day.  Saad Aldorasi wrote, 'Lets get to the root of the problem'.   He talks about Saudi  women’s rights, protection against domestic violence, abuse and sexual harassment and gives his take on where the problem comes from and how best to prevent it. 

The article didn't catch my attention for what he said.  What he said is glaringly obvious to anyone caring to look.  What did surprise me was that he said it.  Plane, frank, no beating around the bush.  That in itself shows the changes happening in Saudi.

It's heartening to see that media (and Arab News is considered as one that tows the government line) is allowing Saudi's to voice a good hard look at themselves while, at the same time. offering up possible solutions.

Enjoy the read from this weeks Arab News, Saudi Pulse.


Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Someone Doesn't Care About The Health Message.

There was an article in today's Arab News (aka The Green Truth) about removing school canteens and only having vending machines to provide students with food.  I have to admit, it triggered my pessimistic tendencies.  Either someone higher up the food chain in this country has no idea about Saudi's dietary related health issues, or is simply choosing to ignore recent health data and messages calling for improved health of the people.

Almost every week in the Arab News, and most other media in Saudi, are articles on how fat and unhealthy Saudi's are becoming from lack of exercise and Western dietary influences.  Along with those articles come government promises to 'do something about it'.

To their credit they have made various moves to address the problem, one strategy being specifying the type of food to come out of school canteens.

'Why on earth', I thought, 'would you go to the trouble of banning unhealthy food in school canteens and then decide to kit the whole place out with vending machines?'  And then it hit me.  Because you can - and in this country the only people who can do whatever they want are those near the top of the Saudi tree. ( It's interesting that Saudi tree's are covered in thorns!)

Camel hiding behind thorny Saudi shrubbery.

I couldn't help thinking that Someone Highly Placed has found a way to make some cash and is his using his influence to ride roughshod over any initiatives put in place to really help his countrymen (even if they are only school kids), and is only focused on  helping him (or perhaps her) self.  And then I came across this article, also in Arab News late last year, about Vending Machine Distribution Agreement.  One can't help but wonder if these are the machines going into schools.

Saudi is a fascinating country and, contrary to a lot of the taunting press that goes viral via social websites, the folks running the place are not giant ignoramuses. They do, however, face a bit of a battle with some entrenched attitudes, some more recently wired into the psyche than others.

Wasta is a word bandied about in this region and, in a nutshell, it means 'Influence'.  It can be used for good purposes or otherwise.  Within its powerful sphere hide greed, arrogance and selfishness, traits that seem to be an accepted part of the culture of this country.  It is quite obvious to anyone who's lived here a little while that the only people able to influence two Ministries (Health and Education according to this article) are those with lots of Wasta.

Watching the rapidly expanding girth of the people over the last few years, the big wigs are well aware that the health of this nation is a bit of an issue.    They're building numerous hospitals and health clinics to assist the cause but, as someone who has worked in the health arena for a while knows, hospitals are like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.  A better idea is to keep people away from the cliff's edge altogether.  Vending machines in schools is like giving the cliff a party sign and sending out invitations.

I hope they can this plan. I hope Miss Pessimism is completely wrong and can go back to her corner.  I also hope that someone higher up the hierarchy chain decides he cares more about the health of his people than some bugger who's bought a boatload of vending machines and needs to get rid of them!

And if, as a friend suggested yesterday, Saudization is part of this plan (though lord knows how because sacking canteen workers and replacing them with machines doesn't strike me as helping the cause) then perhaps The Powers That Be could look at 'Kid Chow', one of a number of prepared food companies experiencing some healthy growth, according to the Wall Street Journal, and take a leaf out of their lunchbox menu for a business idea.


Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Don’t get too excited about Jeddah’s new aquarium

I spent this morning chuckling over an article by Sabira S Jawhar in the Arab News - Don’t get too excited about Jeddah’s new aquarium.  Pertinent pieces of text, which had very little to do with the aquarium itself were read to Hubster as he sat at his desk attempting to start his day, but being distracted by moi who was finding the item quite entertaining.

The article targets some subtle criticism at Saudi's Virtue Promoters who tend to be guilty of poorly considered, rather backward behavior that is in stark contrast to the goals of Saudi's current hierarchy in their attempts to move society forward.   It's Saudi's version of a tug-of-war.  Enjoy the read - Don’t get too excited about Jeddah’s new aquarium.

Ka Kite,
Kiwi