Hey friends,
I made cupcakes last night to share my birthday with my watchman, Prakash. He is from Sri Lanka, and he has been doing an awesome job of cleaning, maintaining and the duty of a security guard of my building. He has a 3-in-1 job. Ever since I have come to this building, he has been very nice to me. It was when my mom left that she told him: take good care of Mansur. From then onwards, Prakash has been asking all the time if things are all right and so on. Today, Prakash is my good friend. I take time out of the day to actually sit down and talk with him. I never let him feel that he is a ‘watchman’ when I talk to him. I have noticed other tenants who throw orders at him: do this or do that! They complain to him and about him.
Prakash almost left his job last week. He mentioned he had not been paid for the last two months, and that he basically living on the few dirhams he had left. All the labor politics her, including unpaid wages, was taking a toll on Prakash. I thought to myself: how unfair the whole system here is. Apparently, there is a huge issue of unpaid workers here in Dubai and Sharjah. Because labor is so cheap, the employers think they can get away with not paying the wages on time.
When I gave Prakash the cupcakes, he asked me how old I had turned, and I said 28. “Oh! That’s only one year difference.” I listened intently. “I am 29, and you are only one year smaller to me.” I could never tell, with the way he is, that he is 29. I always thought of him as 35, 36-ish. I realized it is the hard work, the manual labor and tiresome days for him that makes him look older than he really is.
I have included him in my prayer list which I have for people who I pray for. I know each one of us are here for a ‘test.’ Some people go through hell, and some people have, or what it seems to be like, a hassle-free life. While a sheikh can stay at the 7 star hotel in Dubai, there could be garbage collector who has work despite not getting his wages. There could be all the rich people dancing the night away at the most posh nightclub, and there would be people who are living out there in broken, dilapidated homes. All this in the SAME city of Dubai!
Mansur
1 comment:
Yeah, one of the sign of the End of Times is this widening of the gap between the rich and the poor! We see that happening now: the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer!
I can make some cupcakes when I come to Jeddah!! I have about 12 sitting in my kitchen right now, completely covered in the chocolate frosting, and I feel sick looking at them because I ate one too many last night!! lool!
Mansur
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