Hole in the Wall

I wonder about the lives of the people who live in places like this. I believe that foreign workers from poorer countries are the inhabitants of these homes.

Tiling Building Exterior

I have featured many photos of hard laborers on this blog. These workers come from a variety of poor Asian and African countries, like Bangladesh, India, and Yemen. They come here to Saudi Arabia because they can earn a lot more money here than they can in their own countries, enough to provide well for their families back home, even though it may not sound like much money to people from more affluent countries. Many of these hard workers are frequently treated like second class citizens. They work long hours in the hot blazing sun and oftentimes perform dangerous jobs, without any consideration given to their safety. This type of back breaking and dangerous labor is never done by Saudi men.

Fruit Vendors in the Street

Street vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables are seen all over the city every day selling their wares.

Sometimes they position themselves right outside supermarkets. They do a good business.

Their products are generally fresh and inexpensive. My husband likes to haggle with them over the prices, but he will generally give them what they asked for in the first place even if they've agreed to a lower price, as long as he thinks the price is reasonable.

Hovel

Just across the street from a beautiful high end mall in Jeddah are hovels like this one where poor expat laborers live. The stark contrast upon exiting the mall and seeing how some people in the world live is quite mind blowing.

Sad Truth

People begging on the streets and illegal immigration are social problems you might not associate with Saudi Arabia. But many Muslims from poorer countries around the world enter Saudi Arabia to perform required religious pilgrimages and then stay illegally once their visas have expired. Men that do this are generally able to get hard labor jobs to support themselves and their families. But for the women, life can be especially hard since they are usually unskilled, and employment for women in general in KSA is still quite restrictive (but improving).

Many of these women can be seen begging in the streets. Some of them resort to "dumpster diving" to retrieve food or discarded items that might be of some value. Every day they can be seen filling up empty baby strollers with items they have collected from trash bins.

SkyWatch: In the Ghetto

Jeddah is a modern city with lots of new construction everywhere, but the city also has some very old and rundown areas as well. Many of the poor foreign workers live in places like this. Though you can’t see them in this photo, even places like this are not without their satellite dishes. Just a few blocks away is an area with beautiful walled villas and a very large, beautiful, and popular shopping mall.


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