Suicide is painless?

In the UAE you can't even try and kill yourself without the risk of punishment from the authorities. It wasn't as if this man was trying to harm anyone else. This is a prime example of how mental health is misunderstood in this part of the world. If he was so low as to attempt to kill himself then do you think a suspended jail sentence is going to make him feel any better?

Maybe the best course of action is to offer the man some counselling. The article says the he tried to end his life because he was suffering from "psychological problems and pressure at work". I know first hand that there are no grievance procedures in many of the universities here, professors are hired as teaching machines and can easily fall foul of student bribery and wasta tricks as well as politicking and backstabbing. Most professors just get the hell out here when it gets too much and hopefully onto a better job if their career hasn't been damaged too much.

The Brain Drain of Al Ain

In fact, it is the same ego that when offering a prospective employee a salary and benefits package, there is the air of "TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT". (That is another story entirely that is going to come crashing down on the UAE...it's called the brain drain.)

Says Dubai Bigus in a post about consumer rights in the UAE. It's interesting that they've mentioned the 'brain drain' that's going on, because living in Al Ain and knowing many academics (UAEU/HCT) and doctors (Tawam) that work here, I know exactly what they're talking about.

I remember once upon a time there was a brain drain in the UK. Academics with the ink still drying on their PhD certificates would say goodbye to their Alma Mater and head for pastures foreign to earn much more that they could in the motherland. One such country to benefit was the UAE. The UAE got wise to this and decided that it wouldn't take much of an incentive to get the brains to come to the country; maybe free housing would do it, no need to raise the salary because it was tax free anyway. As we all know, the stream of western academics wanting to come to the UAE is endless, right? You can raise their living standards a tinsy bit more than what they would have back home and they'd all come running, right?

Wrong. People are getting fed up. They were fed on the promise of a 15% pay rise. It never came. Rumours spread that the cost of living was going to rise, that came.

The result is that it seems half of Al Ain is packing up and going home this summer. Which leaves what? A few die-hards that are committed to health care and education in this country and the rest who couldn't get out this year but are trying for the next.

You pay people a good salary and they will stay and work their b***s off. You keep chipping away at people's benefits and they will leave. Then who will heal the sick and teach the young?

Nothings changed here

January is the month that many Al Ainites who work at the two big educational establishments get their first big holiday since the summer. This means Al Ain is dead(er) for about a fortnight.

With the new semester brings the return of these over-worked-underpaid senseis. So where did they go? Well, the poorest ones stayed in Al Ain with the highlight of the holiday being a trip up to the bright lights of Dubai, maybe a day on Jumeirah Beach Park. The slightly richer ones went to Oman, spending most of the holiday in their 4 wheel drive on a long straight road or in a tent on the Hajars. The ones with a bit more cash either went to India or Thailand. Finally, the moneyed ones or those so homesick they don't care went home to the UK and froze their little ***** off.

This weekend they all convened in the H&J with different stories to tell:

-Etihad Airways are flying Iberworld charter jets on their Abu Dhabi-Gatwick route at the moment and the experience is terrible...

-It was freezing in England and expensive but worth it

-I got Delhi Belly and was on a drip for three days

-Carrefour was really quiet and I managed to get one of the trolleys with red wheels that don't electricute you.