Jordan - The Truth

Introduction

I've lived in many countries, however I must admit that Jordan is one of the worst I have experienced. There are many reasons, both personal and obvious, and It will take some time to write them all down in an organised manner. However, until then, let this be a good start.

I should note that due to safety reasons, many sections of the page have been removed because of the lack of freedom of speech in Jordan, especially when it comes to certain topics that expose the country to the scam that it is, such topics of which include the government, betrayal of the people's land and home, the corruption in the monarchy and their family, et al.

Note that all that's mentioned here is from my personal opinion from personal experience. This is not a news page and I certainly want to protect the faces of any whom I discuss here, as well as myself so do not expect me to write references, links to quotes, etc.. Fact is, If you do not believe any part of what's written here, then by all means give it a try yourself.

 

Status

13/10/2008 - Initial Draft. - Next step, provide links for every section for more articles, and provide pictures.

 

Price Jump

Although this section can be found more or less in every country, especially lately, however it's something I feel I should mention... Regarding prices.. Things are getting out of hand in this country. It's going expensive in a ridiculous way for no reason whatsoever but greed, and I speak before the local/global recession that's recently hit. As an example, on early December, 2007, everything suddenly increased in price by 8% for no reason. It costs an average day's wage now to buy a cup of Starbucks coffee. And starting early 2008, all the necessities went up in price in a big shock.. 

Gas prices rose from 4JD per canister to 6.5JDs. I mean, some families in the palestinian  camps rely on gas for heating cooking and to live.. how are they going to survive now? 

Fuel rose from 0.35JD per liter to 0.66JD per liter in 1 day. Then a week later up to 0.71JD, then 0.77JD a week after that. I have no idea how much more it is now. And before you mention it, this all happened before the worldwide jump in the price of oil and petrol... I cannot imagine how much it is now, and there’s no point checking anymore.

Hotel rooms are rising as we speak and their excuse is because of all the above.

I haven’t even started with food, vegetables, fruits, etc.. But at least know that a salad now costs more than meat. I left in time, and am not personally following up on this section, especially now with the global recession.

 

Corruption

I’m fed up of corruption in Jordan. It is everywhere you go and it’s ridiculous. No one of course can say anything otherwise they’re in trouble..

For example, the state of the roads in Jordan is a disgrace. Pot holes, cracked roads, unfinished areas, poor quality tarmac, poor quality bridges - several of which collapsed a few years ago, and when rebuilt, still is horrid (you can see the water dripping through it into the tunnel when it rains). Why do you ask? A person I met told me of his father who works in road construction in the United Arab Emirates. He mentioned how he moved to Jordan and worked for the local road construction, and was so appalled by the level of corruption that he simply packed his bags and left. Any project they take here, they receive a budget. A large sum of that budget goes to the fat cat’s pockets, while a small sum goes into buying poor quality equipment, material, slave labour, and bribery to stay quiet. Eventually, you end up with what you see now. You don’t believe me? Try driving in the streets yourself.

The list is endless.. I’ve seen people vote for member of parliaments, as well as prime ministers just because “they are a distant relative of ours” or “oh, he is paying us 5JDs to vote for him!”, or even “I have no idea who he is, but he’s from my part of town, so i’ll vote for him”. The MPs and others of course promises X and Y improvements left and right, but I have yet to see ANY, literally, ANY improvements so far. They just sit back, enjoy the comfortable seat, earn their little wage and yet end up with tens if not hundreds of thousands of Dinars in their account by the time they leave their office - let’s guess how!

It’s all about the money.. It is, everywhere, come to think of it. And over here, it goes all the way to the top. Employers, CEOs, banks, member of parliaments, members of the royal family, and I shall stop here for safety reasons. But basically, the aim, nay, the shear existence of this country is to find a way to steal as much money as you can, legally or illegally, and hush those authorities with some money or shares, and shut those up who complain.

I’ve seen customs and quality control going to a coffee warehouse where they are required to inspect the coffee there for any diseases before it enters the country. They are required to take a sample of around 10 grams - a handful. Instead, they bring their own buckets and fill them with kilograms full of beans - worth tens of Dinars - to keep, use, or sell themselves. The owner cannot complain otherwise they will just prevent the shipment from entering, stating that it is unfit. What disgraceful use of blackmail... 

A prime minister was caught red handed with a scam where he receives prior information about large projects that are to be built anywhere inside or outside the capital. Such projects always raise the property value of the area they are to be built on, as well as the surrounding areas. What he did is simply buy these pieces of land himself, wait until the news is officially out regarding the projects, observe the sudden and massive increase in value, then sell the land to the project owners with a massive profit. When he was caught, he simply said on TV “So? There is currently no law that prevents me from doing so.” - Well, isn’t that wonderful..

You think it’s all bad? Well at least they catch some when scandals become too obvious. That sounds like a good sign, or is it? Read on to find out. 

One of the previous ex prime ministers, Al Battikhi, here was caught and tried for corruption charges. I cannot remember the exact amount he stole, but I think it was around $70 million from the government. After bribing left and right, I highly doubt he didn't bribe the judge too, he was found guilty and was ordered to pay back the "$24 million" he stole back... Furthermore, he was put on house arrest for 4 years. Note that a car is considered part of the house, so he can also go anywhere he likes. I ask, what kind of justice is this?

"In July 2003, Batikhi was found guilty of fraud and embezzlement by Jordan's state security court, sentenced to eight years in prison, and ordered to pay back $24 million. Jordan's current GID chief then reduced Batikhi's prison term to four years. The prosecution and conviction of a figure as prominent as Batikhi was touted by the Jordanian government as a groundbreaking step against corruption. However, other Jordanians asserted that the conviction was politically motivated and based on flawed legal grounds and faulty evidence. The trial itself was not public.

Civil society groups complain that the king and government have not involved them in any anticorruption efforts, and in at least two relatively recent instances, the government has actively thwarted media efforts to expose corruption. In March 2002, the government allegedly threatened to ban a newspaper if it printed certain articles regarding the Batikhi case.[33] Then, in May 2002, former parliamentarian Toujan Faisal was sentenced to 18 months in prison for posting a letter in an Internet publication that accused the prime minister of corruption. The king pardoned Faisal in June 2002." - Freedom House, Anticorruption and Transparency - 2.92

The list is endless. I haven’t gone deep enough, and I will populate this page whenever I can.

 

Land & Housing

The following depends on the area, size and quality of house of course.

Because of the (in my own opinion) illegal USA war on Iraq, as many as 2 million Iraqis escaped the war and came to Jordan around 2004. Some poor, and many rich. They literally arrived with several black bin-bags full of cash each (US Dollars), worth up to millions. We cannot be sure where all the money came from, but many of them just sold their belongings, or took whatever they have out before it's lost, while others obtained such money illegally. Now, national and international banks in Jordan always need proof of where your money comes from, and a reason for its use (non commercial) in order to allow you to deposit or transfer large amounts. The Iraqis could not deposit their money into banks, so they did the next best thing, invest in land and houses. If you invest in land or houses, you have a legal certificate or proof of value. You can wait a while, sell again at a profit, and do what you wish with the money afterwards because you have evidence of where it came from (hence now, legal).

So, here you have tens of thousands of people, with millions and up to tens of millions of dollars each, hungry to buy whatever land they can. What do the locals do of course? Their greed wakes up, and prices go up and up, even by up to 1,000%. The only people who suffer now of course are the locals.

Land and hence houses too have ridiculously gone up in price by the week, the past few years. The majority of the inflation happened between 2005 - 2007. That's 3 years! The stories are endless.. Here are a few that I know of.

1 Dunum = 1,000 meters squared (approx 32 meters by 32 meters)

Outskirts; A beduin had 100 dunums of land in the outskirts he bought many years ago for as low as 1JD per dunum believe it or not.. A few years ago, it was published somewhere that he sold each dunum for around 30,000JD. I'll try and search for the references if there are any.

Outskirts: A person I know bought 1 dunum in the outskirts towards the airport around 3 years ago for 1,000JD. Last year (2006), he sold that same dunum for 83,000JD.

As for houses, the same applies.

A relative of a person I met bought a 200 meter house down town (El Gardens, for those who know Amman) around August 2005 for around 80,000JD. She sold it a year later for 130,000JD. 6 months later, it's gone up to 190,000JD. Now (~April 2008), it's worth 230,000JD.

Five years ago, a 400m house in a high end area cost around 70,000JD. Around January 2007, it went up to 200,000JD. By January 2007, a very similar house next to it was on offer for 300,000JD. By May it shot up to 350,000JD. By December 2007 it went up to 400,000JD. By early 2009, it is estimated to go on offer for 500,000JD.

As I said, the only people who suffer are the locals. The lower class are getting poorer and the middle class hardly exist anymore because they either shifted towards the lower or upper class. Imagine the impact on health, crime, and education this has... In 2008, it has become so difficult to buy houses in the city that people are starting to move out into the suburbs or small towns, which in turn are turning into districts. Young people cannot afford to pay for a house, not even rent, unless their parents buys it for them. Banks in 2007 refused to give out mortgages to people because the law says that they can only take a certain percentage in interest, and it would take at least 100 years for the person to pay back the debt. Rent used to cost around 1,000JD per year for a small apartment. Now it can cost up to 2,000JD a month.

 

Work

The minimum wage (government wage) in Jordan rose in 2007 from 100JD to 120JD per month. the average wage is 300JD per month. A programmer makes on average JD600 - 800  a month. A CEO usually makes around 2,000JD per month. 

In the time I was here, I personally wasted a year sitting on my behind at work doing noting useful and gaining no good experience in what I was planning to do. I thought i would learn more here, because it's still developing. Managers and people in general are either so backwards to the extent that they think they’re right no matter what, or insist on remaining unhappy and doing hardly anything at all. But why? Come to think of it, that sounds like everywhere, including - and especially - government offices. Well, if you complain, or even offer to make things better but through methods that require more effort, they just simply say - And I quote -  "**** you, why don’t you quit? We have 10,000 others in the street that we can just hire and  replace you with" instead of making things better.

There are hardly any human rights here, and what does exist is hardly being applied. There is an Electronic Engineering union here (similar to such unions in the UK), where if you're an Electronic Engineer, you can join it to receive certain protections or benefits. One of these benefits is introduction by the union of the law stating that they are not allowed to be paid less than 300JD a month. However, go to any work environment throughout the city, especially the non-international companies or those that do not have a big name, and notice how the EE are paid as low as 150JD a month. I asked some about their rights from the union, and again, they simply said “look around you, in the street.. there are tens of thousands of engineers that are hungry for work. If you complain, you’ll just simply be replaced by any of them”.

I personally was a victim where I was promised a lot of opportunities and positions, but got sod all and was forced to quit in the end. I was offered a job in a new company where the CTO said - and I quote - that I will be “a linux administrator, but with little php development”, and ended up doing 95% php development, and sod all in administration. I was fooled with words into working up to 15 hours a day including weekends several times, for a CTO that not only had a permanent job in ANOTHER company, but we only saw ~3 hours a month, and received calls about how crap we are at work... Work was based on stealing other people’s ideas and code, as well as being promised a raise after 3 months which never happened, a promotion after 6 months, which didn’t happen, and another raise after 9 months, which was less than what they promised the first 3 months... Out of respect for the very few good friends in the company, I shall stop here with this topic.

 

The Brown Nigger - Why hire Jordanians when slavery is OK?

I’m sure the title above caught your attention, and regrettably it should. I’m referring here to the Egyptian workers that come in masses from Egypt to do any job they can, living on end’s meat. They hardly have any rights, and both the government as well as the people should feel ashamed of themselves for treating them this way, and neglecting their basic rights. When Egyptians arrive to the country, they have several types of jobs to work in. The most fall under the following,

Building Guard

This might sound alright, especially with the use of the word “guard”, but there’s nothing nice about it at all. A typical building here would have around 8 apartments in it. The guard is responsible for cleaning the building, cleaning the car if the maid isn’t doing so already, taking care of the garden, going to the shop and back to get whatever the apartment owners need, etc.. Of course, what does he get paid? minimum wage; less if possible too. Where does he live? In a small room in the garage or underground. I’ve seen many apartments that refuse to provide gas for the guard so that he may warm himself up. What does he wear? - the same ragged t-shirt jeans, and slippers he came with several years ago (how many thought the 'guard' had a uniform?). What do they do? - slave off day and night, living off of bread, water, and poor quality food, many living in small rooms with 10 - 15 other workers just to spend as little money as possible, and send the rest back to their families. The lucky ones can bring their family to live with them in the small room as mentioned above.

Construction worker

I even read a small article about the topic a while ago from Jo Magazine, quoting Al Jazeera newspaper.

“Many employees insist on imposing the minimum wage on Jordanians who seek work, in order to drive them away, preferring foreign (Egyptian) workers who don’t demand social and helth insurance, fixed working hours, or other legally guaranteed rights. Why hire someone who can complain to the police when it is possible to get a foreigner who can work around the clock for impossibly low pay?” - Jo Magazine, Feb 08, p.24.

Honestly, when I look left and right at them, it breaks my heart.. Especially at winter time, when they’re nearly freezing to death, wearing the same torn trousers that they haven’t changed in months or years, the same old torn ragged shirt, flip flops or old sneekers, and this `empty look` on their face. They remind me of how Latin Americans and Africans were treated in the USA in the early and mid days of the 1900 era..  

I remember when I was younger, seeing a Jordanian man in what appeared to be his late 50s, dressed in a suit, parking his shiny car right next to a house that was being constructed by those Egyptian workers, which was opposite a market. The worker was cutting a long thin iron bar and shaping it for the house. Accidentally (eventually) he ended up scratching the car, and to my shock, the Jordanian man came, grabbed him, and started beating the worker to a pulp... punching his face, dragging him to the ground, kicking him, etc... Eventually after my veins filled with rage from seeing such an act, I rush in and grab the man to pull him away. He ends up spitting on the worker and threatening to deport him back to Egypt. I honestly don’t know what stopped me from giving this man what he deserves for what he did.

 

 

Police - Expensive Eye-candy

If I were to use a single word that would describe any armed force or higher form of authority in Jordan, it would have to be disgrace. They are so full of them selves to the extent that you can see their necks high up, and their bellies out, making sure you get the message that they can do whatever they please... And as soon as they realise you’re a nobody or have no connections, the corruption, discrimination, and police brutality kicks in. I lost my respect for them a very long time.

The Thief

A week or two before I left the country around mid-2008, I see several locals running around the neighborhood trying to catch a few gypsies who tried to rob them out of hunger and a last resort. The police eventually tracked one of them down in a building being constructed, handcuffed him, took him outside next to the police car surrounded by the crowd, and while putting him in, beats the air out of him by punching him in the face and stomach just to make a point in front of everyone.

Purse Snatcher - Gardens St.

Another story was told by a friend of mine regarding the sudden spree of Iraqi thieves in mid 2007 that spread all over the area known as Gardenes <> Sport city. One of the beggars asked a lady in her car at the traffic light for some spare change, and then swiped her purse and started to run towards a big coffee shop around the corner. A few guys managed to drive there and corner the beggar right in front of the coffee shop, holding him down until the police arrived. The police arrived in a big van, came out, surrounded the beggar, and started beating the living shit out of him; punching him in the face and stomach, kicking his face, body, and head on the ground with their feet, bashing him again and again for quite a while until he could take no more. When they were done - and you can see the satisfaction and smile on their face - they sat him down on the curve while he cried his eyes out, bleeding left and right. 

As they were about to take him in, a few cars stopped by and a few internal affairs officers emerged. The police told them the story, and the officers smiled, and told the police to forget this kid, he's now coming with them. The officers then look at the kid, and performed a tearing like maneuver with their hands that basically means "we're going to open your ass really wide". The beggar then - knowing exactly what will happen to him - begged for mercy, crying, asking  for forgiveness, however they continued laughing, dragged him in the car, and drove off... I cannot imagine the torture that comes next.

Arrested for allegedly "swearing at the King"

I myself was once a victim of injustice. Near our house lies a road towards the city. On one end is the King's Palace, and the other end the Internal Affairs (Mukhabarat). After the bombings, armed military soldiers were put in that area as a form of a security check point. Some were kind, while others were very rude and too proud of their power. While I was driving into the city for the 4th or 5th time, they stopped me again to ask for my ID, however this time it was a different soldier than the one I always encounter and open to jokes or slight humor. This one was looking with a bad eye onto my car, myself, as if he is jealous at the fact that I'm this young, and is driving a new BMW (it's not my car btw..), and wearing sunglasses, shirt, etc.. Anyway, there's nothing I could say about that except to bite it in... While I gave my ID to this soldier, I asked with a smile the same question I usually ask the other soldiers to lighten up the atmosphere,

Me: "so is it every time I pass here I have to be checked?". 

He stared at me, shouted 

Him: "Yes, why, don't you like it?" then shouted even louder "move your car, and go park next to the sidewalk". 

At this point I got very offended at his tone of voice, choice of words, and how he treated me for asking such a question. So when I parked and got out of the car, he confronted me again, coming really close to me so as to try and intimidate or agitate me, and in a very rude and demeaning way said 

Him: "who are you to ask such a question?" 

At this point I couldn't take it anymore, and asked him to kindly lower his voice because he's being rude (i kept my temper...). He didn't take that well at all, and shouted 

Him: "rude? you call me RUDE?" 

So I replied and said "YES i think you're rude if you treat me like this!".

At this point, he talks to his walkie-talkie, and 2 minutes later an armed truck with a giant machine gun mounted to it, and several Internal Affairs officers arrive. Some with symbols on their shoulders that represented higher ranks, and some just normal. They all surrounded me with the car behind me, and started questioning me on "why I swore at the military soldier". I really got confused and started to question what exactly I said that is considered a swear word (honestly, I do not recall saying anything bad... I'm not THAT dumb). All I told them is that the soldier was being very rude to me, and everytime I say that the soldier gets angrier and angrier and shouts "There it is, he is swearing at me again" and tries to attack me while the others pull him back. Before I could put 1 and 1 together, they then started shoving their hands on my shoulder, and saying - and I quote,

I.A. Offier: "You swore at this soldier, which means that you swore at the symbol on his hat [military symbol], which means you swore at the King. Come with us to Jail and we'll continue this over there."

At this point, I knew this situation is getting really serious, since they're looking for trouble, and that I need the support of my [British] embassy.

Me: I want to call my British Embassy

I.A Officer: "No, you can't"

At this stage I snapped, and didn't care if it were the Queen of England herself,

Me: "Damn right I can, I want to call them NOW" - my voice raised.

At this stage I didn't care what they did, and dialed my mobile. Unfortunately it was the day the damn Embassy was closed.. So I dialed my Mom instead to come and help. Long story short, they take me to the police station, put me in a room full of police, and for the next hour or so, one after the other comes in, pokes or pushes me and starts shouting and swearing at me for swearing at a military officer. Yes that's very mature for police to do so... And by the way, this is the moment I lost respect for the police in Jordan. A disgrace... And the funny thing is, every time I meet my Mom, she says 

Mom: "Don't worry, just keep calm and everything will be better". 

It's funny how this sentence you hear a lot through life, and you would think that being calm solves problems. Well, here I was being calm, and not saying anything or shouting, while i'm being assaulted and shouted at by the police, the same people who are supposed to enforce justice and order to the country. My ass...

Finally, after my Mom calls in a few connections, they take me to the Chief of Police. He was the first civilised person to sit me down and be polite. He asks me,

C.O.P: "So, please tell me, what happened?"

At this stage, I tell him,

Me: "First of all, THANK YOU for being the first one to actually ask MY side of the story, and what really happened, instead of just come to conclusions and act wrongly"

After telling him the story, he then tells me that saying the word "rude" to a soldier is an offense that carries a 1 month prison sentence. I couldn't believe it, and tried to reason with him and explain that the solder was in fact very rude in the way he acted and what he said. Long story short, he ordered me to go to a small police court and pay JD1,000 and then i'll be spared Jail. I was taken there, but with a few connections, we didn't have to pay the penalty. At that stage, I couldn't take it any more when I saw my mom starting to shout at the police, or judge or whatever the fuck he was in that room, and I snapped. I shouted like never before at everyone in that room, telling them shame on them and the police and the military for treating a citizen like such, and for the hell I had to go through the whole day because of their heads being far up their ass. I could see their hands gripping the chairs so much from anger and that they wanted to just jump at me but I could also see they understood some of what I said and hence refrained from doing so.

I'm guessing their side of the story, whatever it was, spread to the rest of the soldiers, because for the next few days I was harassed at that checkpoint by whoever soldier it was, in an attempt to agitate me or for me to say any word so that they take me in again. And if The check point soldier didn't manage to, he'd pass it along to another soldier standing there.. Thankfully I kept my mouth shut, knowing that it's just a few more days and I'll be out of that country.

 

Women - Sheep...

Granted, women here are not oppressed like in Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc, however oppression still exists in an alarming manner, where men own women, especially their wives and children. Women do not have the freedom that men have. Women even live their lives serving men, and to my shock, some by choice. Granted it's not as bad as other countries such as Saudi where women are not allowed to travel by law without the permission of their husband, or that they're not allowed to drive, work, etc...

Honor killings still legally exist and are performed. For example, If i suspect that my sister or daughter going out with or kissed a man, I can legally kill them and justifiably use the excuse of Honor Killing, in order to protect the reputation of my family name, avoiding prosecution or incarceration... Of course it doesn't stop there.. Apparently you can do that for whatever reason (even being annoyed at them) and just use the excuse of Honor Killing too.

"Every two weeks a young woman is killed in Jordan alone in the name of family honour" - Islam Watch

But to my shock, it's not only the men's fault, but the majority of women here are very backward minded. All they simply care about is just marrying someone, or anyone, and having kids. They do not want a future, no career, nothing. Just a house to pop out kids after kids after kids, while they stay close to their mothers who will tell them everything they should do, wear, and cook, and close to their maid(s) who will do the rest of the hard work and responsibilities of life.

I have heard many stories, endless stories, about women who went to university, graduated, then just worked for a bit until they finally got married either to someone they know, or a cousin or relative, arranged marriage, or even anyone out of sheer desperation and pressure from family at the fact that she is still single and not bearing any children. Some even believe that this is what they should do in life.

Again, I’m sorry to say this, especially for those women here who are trying to make a difference, but the fact is that the majority here simply wait to waste their life under a man’s responsibility, not having any means of self support, not even in case anything bad happens (accident, divorce, death, etc).

Many even get married right after finishing university, so that they wont work.

I know of a lady here who started off well with work, then fell under the pressure of her parents insisting that she should not work, and instead, find a man and get married. Eventually, she found out herself what a different life this is, and either liked it or got attached to it so much that after a failed marriage, she refuses to work anymore, and was desperate enough to marry a freak who refuses to let her walk out with her girlfriends just in case men would look at her, decides who she should see and who she shouldn’t, decides who she should invite for her wedding, decides how much money to give her every month to spend, and what she should spend it on, and even demands that she give up her son from her previous marriage because he doesn’t like the idea.. Did she agree? of course she did.. The child instead of living with his father, now lives with her parents [his grandparents].

And you'd think after all this, married couples would take care of their kids? couples here get maids from Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, etc, to raise their kids while they go out and buy sutff, swim, or whatever; 

However, I must admit.. it's not all bad. There is one thing they do seem to care about, and it's their image, judged by other women in the city. It is as if the whole city and its population is just one big community with a sole purpose to judge others and be judged by others. To them, this is more important than their health, their kids, or even their freedom.. If they put half the amount of attention onto developing their professional careers, skills, taking care of their kids, demanding more rights, making a difference, as they do put on their appearances,  image towards others, they would then be much happier with themselves.

 

Maids

From my observation and stories I've seen and heard over the past ten years, I have concluded that Jordan is obsessed with maids.. Literally obsessed with the fact that they shouldn't lay a finger or shred of responsibility in doing any family related matter, while they can hire a maid, treat her like a slave, command her to do whatever they want, and watch their kids become spoilt or psychologically messed in the head for not being raised by their parents in a more moral manner. I have come across so many kids there that speak phillipean or indonesian already at the age of 2 and 3! and they call their maids "mama". And to top it all, many maids end up being sexually abused or raped by the household man and there is nothing they can do about it. Should they get pregnant by mistake, they are simply and immediately sent off back to their country, while the man of the house looks for connections to get himself out of the problem. 

And these maids of course have no rights.. They are not alowed to leave the house, for the fear of mixing with the other maids, and getting ideas on how to steal from the house without getting caught. What a good excuse to put a human being under house arrest for years on end! As for their rooms, they live in a small room, somewhat around 3m x 2m, which is usually the laundry room, with no window, the washing machine and dryer next to them, and sometimes the room's door exiting into the kitchen, the only 2 rooms they will ever be allowed to sit in.  If they are lucky, they will have a toilet seat instead of a hole in the room or bathroom. Of course some families are kind enough to provide them with a small TV for entertainment. I have seen animals in the London Zoo being treated with more rights.

I even remember reading an article from BBC that talked about the poor state in Jordan,

"I was surprised when the agency manager fetched me at the airport. He told me my salary would be $150 (£75) a month and that I would not be paid for my first three months here."

 

"I was made to work more than an animal can," the former maid said.

"I started at 0600 and finally stopped at midnight. I was only allowed to eat once a day at 1200"

"I was only allowed to take a bath once a week, on Fridays. I was only allowed to sleep by the washing machine."

 

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7214980.stm

Note that this is not only in Jordan, but is common all over the middle east.

Note that I've already received a few complaints from people that claim I'm directly talking about them. This is untrue. I respect the privacy and decisions of those close to me to the extent that I will not talk directly about them. But please note that such actions are so widely spread all over Jordan, to the extent that even you would mention a similarity...

I know of many recently married families here who are too used to the spoiled life of having maids in their house to clean their bathrooms, wash their clothes and car, make their beds, that they get their own maids when they move into their new homes. “The house is too big”, “How can I find the time to clean?”, “I’m too stressed from the baby crying at night, I cannot take it!”, and one of my favorite that I’ve heard... “But who will take care of the baby?”

Another couple i know here, so spoiled, they have TWO maids in their house.. 1 for the 2 babies, and 1 for cleaning, cooking, washing the car, etc...

When you go to the dead sea, petra, or other outside places, you see 40% of the people there are maids, running after the kids, and not even allowed to swim! Many do not even have hats to wear on their heads, when the temperature outside reaches 35 - 45 C. And of  course, what are the mom and dad doing? sitting and relaxing, getting a suntan, eating a nice meal in the restaurant, a sunday ice cream and beer, or (sometimes) coming and playing with the kids for 15 minutes, while the maid has 15 minutes to stand and relax, until she gets the kids again.

 

 

I cannot see any conscience anymore. The people who do have a conscience are now poor and struggling, or had the opportunity and left a LONG time ago or are leaving now...