Life of an African worker in Arab countries

Companies advertising jobs in the Arab countries

It requires the endurance of scorching sunshine where temperatures soar as high as half the boiling point and during winter, temperatures plunge to nearly freezing point in the aching night winds that sweep across the desert expanse.

If you’re fond of admiring women, better forget about working in these Arab countries where Sharia law condemns a non-national especially an African for advancing on an Arab woman.

We are in the oil punctuated nation of Qatar where about 2.5 million of about 3 million population are none nationals working in the country’s booming factories, security organs, drivers, security companies, construction works, education, among others while the nationals who make 10 percent remain the bosses.

The 28-year-old Gordon Rutazigwa, a Ugandan from Gomba District, set out to find greener pastures in the desert peninsular, just like thousands of young people who have won a life’s starting point there.

“It’s now over two and a half years since I came here. We work in a new environment with new people who don’t even speak English but it’s a good-paying job few can land on back in my country” Rutazigwa said.

Ugandans of Rwandan origin find it challenging to secure passports in that country, being called non-nationals, but Rutazigwa is one of the few who slip through the cunning impediments not known whether it’s individuals or authorities who lay them.

“I was warned that I had to change my name but I insisted that if they deny me as one of the Banyarwanda, I was willing to leave the chance go and try other things” Rutazigwa strongly told The Eyer.

He managed to secure a passport and also paid the company for its involvement in the connections which all cost him nearly Ugx7m (nearly $2000) for a security officer job that pays himUGX2.5 million (over $680) per month.

Alleges and realities

“In most cases, the company that connects people to employers in Arab countries suggests the jobs that are available so as you look for requirements including documents about the experience but at the job, the experience may mean nothing.

When we got to Qatar, he said, we all had to equally go through a training for weeks, whether those who had genuine experiment or those who had faked the experience documents and at the end, the interior ministry gave us the same certificate.

“I believe they just need some strong people in proportion to the available works as well as healthy ones to resist weather challenges” Rutazigwa suggested.

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially those who don’t speak Arabic, cannot join the Qatar forces.

“Their forces are very liberal and more paying but unless you’re at least a Sudanese, Somalis and other Arabic-speaking countries, you cannot have that chance,” he said rather regretfully.

Precautions

The first thing you have to be careful about is the most defeating factor to men, before wine, the woman.

“As soon as we got here, we were warned about affairs with a married woman or even one’s daughter of age. Sleeping with her is a death sentence if you happen to make it to courts of law” Rutazigwa elaborated.

Even looking at a woman in a lustful way may be so incriminating, he said adding that, men whose bosses are women are not even allowed to exchange words or look at the women in case of a problem.

Matters of sexual relationships are matters of life and death even when it’s the woman or one’s adult daughter who fell in love with a foreigner such as one from Uganda.

“When such happens, you have to run away or if possible, ask to be transferred to another site because it’s a recipe for disaster”.

Even when fellow foreigners, man and woman, arrange an affair, it’s all wastage of time because you cannot spend a night anywhere.

“We all stay in camps of hundreds or thousands. A woman cannot enter there. Even lodges are as expensive as more than half of one’s monthly salary a night. So if you’re active in sex and you cannot abstain, you forget about coming to Qatar”

The weather is so terrible.

From May to October, the sun hits the desert country with scorching heat in July and August reaching 50⁰C, half the boiling point.

On contrary, between December to February, winter chills the land to as low as 5⁰C near the freezing point.

“During hot days, we’re always two. One stays outside for one hour then retires to the shelter as the other one also works for the following hour. It’s too hot”

And in cold months, he said, we wear heavy or double clothes from head socks to the socks. The weather is so challenging to someone from our region where it’s never too cold or too hot.

"But the most important, we're in good working conditions. We have health insurance, health attendants prescribe longer sick leaves, the money was increased to a minimum wage of QR1000 and many more which can be difficult to be attained by a degree holder in an office job in many countries in Africa" Rutazigwa concluded.

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