Hop Fest Dubai

It seems like I've been blogging about Dubai and going to Dubai lately. Maybe I should change this blogs into Living Loving Dubai. Hehe. But naaaaaaaaah. KWD got a much stronger pull than AED to me. LOL!

This time me and the Old People are going to Dubai for the Hop Fest at the Irish Village.

HOP FEST 2009… at The Irish Village

In its 5^th consecutive year and still a hit!

Back by popular demand, The Hopfest is held on August 13, 14 & 15 at the Irish Village

This year’s festival showcases over 120 different beers from around the world: going from the popular Guinness to the more unusual or most exclusive ales, the 3-day festival will offer the chance to drink a lot of favourites as well as sample new ales.

The big air-conditioned marquee set across The Irish Village will be offering all day entertainment and pub food

So book your diaries for 13^th, 14^th & 15^th August.

Doors open at 12.00 noon every day

AED 35 per serving

CHEERS!

For more info, please call PR office on 04 2869919

The Secret please let there be Red Horse Stallion. I'd gladly snub the other beers over my good ole icy stallion. Thank you very much.

Dubai Visa Gets E!

I got a call from my benefactor that they won't be able to apply my Dubai visa online since I exited the country for less than a month. We have to wait until August 6th. Yikes! I don't want to miss my first ever beer fest!

DNRD eServices is a fully integrated immigration processing system designed to minimize the time you spend on managing your application and other transactions with DNRD.

More info's

	About Registration:
		For existing "Online" users: If you are an existing "Online" user register with eDNRD to activate your existing users. For new eDNRD users: If you have never used "Online" or eDNRD before, you have to first pay the registration fee at Establishment Card section at DNRD and they will direct you to the eDNRD Help Desk to obtain your user ID and password. For further information required, visit our eDNRD Help Desk, situated at DNRD on the 1st floor, contact our Customer Information no. at: (04) 3139911.
		Benefits of eDNRD:
		The eDNRD system was developed with many more features than the existing "Online system" . You can now make your payment through CBD direct debit, and the fee for the visa application and security deposit will be deducted at the same time of the application.
		When do I need to pay a security deposit?
		1. The AED2000 security deposit is payable for female visitors from the following countries : Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco (no deposit is payable for men and children under 18). 2. All male and female visitors from Iraq must pay the AED2000 deposit (No deposit payable for children under 18).
		eDNRD Visa application fees:
		For an urgent Visa application the fee is AED 250 For a normal Visa application the fee is AED 150 The Service Visa(Transit) fee is AED 270
		How can I apply for a refund? Please go through our "Refund Policy", on the eDNRD website.

I found out about this initially through the Dubai visa that I got earlier this month from the great work of Mai of ABS-CBN Dubai. Due to the easy access, everyone is encouraged to use the system.

By the way, despite the visa prices on the website, Travel Agencies still asks for 600 AED up to 1500 AED per visa depending on the number of days and Hotels asks for 5000 AED refundable after 2 weeks deposit and a 450 AED visa payment.

So mahal ha.

Only Emirates Airlines issues Dubai visa here in Kuwait and only if you take their aircraft. UAE embassy is totally useless when it comes to this process.

Update on Ghoy

Ghoy is OUT of PRISON.

Ghoy is with her FRIENDS.

Ghoy's case is still PENDING.

Ghoy will be at the PHILIPPINE EMBASSY TODAY.

Ghoy and the EMBASSY WILL FIGHT IT OUT WITH HER EX-EMPLOYERS.

Ghoy will SOON BE FREE!

**Due to over nutrition from my now empty lunch box, the whole substance in the story is lost when I burped. BUT let me just say Go for Ghoy! And ok, for the Ambassador and the wonderful people who climbs walls too. LOL

The Case of Ghoy

I first met Ghoy (a nickname her friends call her) when she was referred her to me for a job in my old company by a family friend. Unfortunately she didn't get the post but we have been connected since then.

We would meet every now and then as family friends took her in while she's sorting out her case at the Shoon.

Ghoy, like any other educated Filipinas, went to Kuwait and didn't practice their education due to unforseen circumstances. Instead, Ghoy worked as a cashier slash waitress for a catering company.

The problem started more than a year ago when Ghoy and her Manager got into an argument. She knowing her rights and he asserting his position escalated the argument into physical fight. The manager shoved Ghoy to the wall that resulted to a huge bump on her head and bruises. Ghoy got pissed and she shoved back but that did not even made him move a bit. Due to that incident - this is where the story gets fuzzy with me and to cut the story short - she didn't report to work and started looking for other jobs.

When my mother first heard of Ghoy's predicament she advised them to go to the hospital and then to the police but as the typical mentality here - the police can do shit and hospitals are expensive.

Ghoy went to the Shoon to get help in getting her passport and to release her so she could find work some place else. A year passed before even the ministry managed to convince the company to give her passport back.

Before buying her ticket she was assured and they even re-checked that her records are clean to avoid future problems.

In Kuwait, that is too much to ask. The employer knowing her flight schedule had her name blocked in the immigration on the day of her departure. After checking in at the airlines, she was stopped at the passport control and was taken into custody. From the airport jail she was transferred 3 times like a common criminal into different dingy jails.

That was last week. At the time of this writing, friends are still bewildered but are in action in helping her. From sending foods because jail food is only Kubos to be dipped on a red sauce to owing money for attorney fees. The jail cells are small so small but they put 15 people, it has no AC and most of all no lights.

Ghoy is still in jail and is waiting for decision from the court. Hopefully today they will get it all settled with the company ordered to pay 1 month of her salary, a ticket back to the Philippines and her records wiped clean.

We are all praying for Ghoy. She does not deserved to be jailed. Nobody does in her situation.

Please pray for Ghoy's safe return home.

Oh My God is RIGHT!

While on the road rushing to get all my visa requirements done last night, a close family friend told me a story of what happened in the Philippine Embassy while he was there for Ghoy's case.

OH MY GOD!

Manila maid ‘survives’ to tell sadist employer’s torture saga

KUWAIT CITY, July 18: A Filipina household service worker employed by a Kuwaiti family sought refuge at the Philippine Embassy this weekend after allegedly suffering severe maltreatment for almost two years at the hands of her lady employer. Jenny, 41, single and a native of Alabang, Manila was sobbing in pain as she narrated to the Arab Times on Saturday the ‘burning’ torture that her lady employer allegedly did on her.

“There was no single day that she did not hurt me. She loved hurting me,” cried Jenny as she showed all the scars and fresh wounds dotting her body. She recounted that her lady employer would usually time her whenever a household task is to be done. “She wants me to finish everything fast, but I’m the only housemaid at home and she has two small kids. We’re staying in a flat with four rooms and with four bathrooms. I do all the household chores, cook, clean, baby-sit and laundry. Sometimes, due to extreme fatigue, I tend to work slowly and she would be very mad at me and the torture begins,” she stated. She narrated that her lady employer had fun torturing her by heating a knife on the stove and once it is scorching hot, she would place the hot knife on any part of the latter’s body leaving burns and blisters.

“I kept on begging her not to do it. I said, enough, enough madam, but she won’t stop until my skin is burnt and blistered. It was horrible. She looked like a devil hitting me with the hot knife. How can a normal person do that?” sobbed Jenny whose wrists, arms, left foot and back were covered with bandage to prevent burnt infection after coming from the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital for treatment. Her ears resembled like a crunchy chicharron after her lady employer burnt them with a knife. “She burned my ears, because there was a time when she called me and I wasn’t able to go to her immediately because I was doing something at the kitchen so she got angry and burned my two ears for not replying to her quickly,” she stated as tears welled in her eyes.

The lady employer also burned her hands and arms with the hot knife for not washing the dishes quickly. “She burned my legs and foot for walking slowly, she burned my nape too and she boxed me on my eye so that I cannot see things clearly,” outlined Jenny. The lady employer also did not spare Jenny’s lips. As she narrated her harrowing experience, she pointed to her blistered, flaking and discoloured burnt lips. “She also hit my back using a water hose and lashed me with the ‘oqal’ of her husband,” she stated, showing her scarred back with newly bandaged burn wounds. The ‘oqal’ is the doubled black cord generally made of tightly woven black goat-hair and sheep’s wool, that is used to secure the ‘Ghutra’ or headdress of Arab men in place.

The lady employer also cut the shoulder-length hair of Jenny leaving her almost bald. “I want to fight back but I was scared because she’s six-months pregnant and I might harm her baby so I endured all the beatings,” she pointed out. After inflicting pain on her, the lady employer would usually give her some cream to treat the burns in various parts of her body. “I really can’t understand why she’s doing that. She would even ask me to wear gloves while washing the dishes to protect my hands and give me hand moisturisers,” she stated.

Last week, the lady employer allegedly threatened to burn Jenny’s eyes and face, prompting the latter to run to the embassy for help. “I finally decided to run to the embassy for help because only God knows, I may not be able to control myself and I might be forced to fight back and I might harm her and the baby in her womb,” she stated. She called first the local manpower agency that recruited her and asked for help but the man from the agency refused to help her. “I told him, please help me, take me out from this hell, but the guy at the agency even scolded me and told me not to go to the agency or he will kick me out of the agency. I called them five times. So I decided to sneak out of the house and go to the embassy” she claimed.

Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador Ricardo Endaya disclosed that the embassy has already hired a Kuwaiti lawyer for Jenny so appropriate charges will be filed against her lady employer. “I’m still at a loss how a human being can do this to her fellow human being. I hope the Kuwaiti authorities will not close their eyes on this so that justice will be served and the employer should be castigated for committing such inhumane acts,” he stressed. “I want her to be in jail. She should pay for what she has done to me,” cried Jenny as she hopes to go back to the Philippines after getting the justice that she wants.

By Michelle Fe Santiago
Special to the Arab Times

I was told that the husband of that despicable woman is a high ranking official in a military that when they tried to go to the police for this case, they were told off by saying that THIS IS A NORMAL CASE. Thankfully, the Philippine Embassy people were able to get back the poor maid's passport from their dastardly hands.

Thanks to Nabeel of Q8SWS for featuring this story.

Aaaccckkkk!

Heya Pipz,

It's been awhile. Am still here though, stuck in the grub. Can't complain. Can't complain. Oh but wait! This is my blog so therefore I sooo can.

Nice, upbeat, sunshiny, rainbow filled stories will have to come later.

Because I seriously have a shitty day.

First, I was denied a US visa. BUT I was not even bummed about that. I don't have plans to go to the US of A. I just applied for the heck of it as my mom was applying for her 10 years too. I'm bummed about my 40 KD visa application fee. Eeeeeekk. Apparently, I don't have enough strong ties here in Kuwait. Ok, 5 years of working here, the old people, 2 siblings, half a dozen cousins with equally half a dozen aunts and uncles, a very good job and an equally very good sideline - they all didn't cut it.

Second, UAE Embassy here in Kuwait does not issue TOURIST visa for common expat residents here. When I came in, there's only 2 people in the whole Embassy. The guard and one arab person who can't speak english and without even looking at my papers said - "only doctors and managers here, go to emirates airlines". At least that's what I think he said coz I only got phrases but I got enough to get the jist.

So I went to work at noon time and was bombared with a whole lot of urgent requests as of course we're having a long weekend starting tomorrow.

*Mom said maybe the embassy guy woke up in the wrong side of the bed as he denied people before me. I was seriously praying not to be called in his window. Seriously. The Secret are you still there for me?

*I'll have to pay the travel agency again in Dubai to get me the UAE visa through EDNRD. More of this later.

*I will have to bring home work. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

/end of rant.

Have a great long weekend Kuwait!

Kuwait's B-Boys Showed Off At FBAOA Today!

I hope I got their acronym right. FBAOA is Filipino Badminton Association of Ahmadi. If not, I stand corrected people!

I digress though.

At the end of the seasonal game today, the B-Boys of Kuwait showed up thanks to Kuya Lino of K Climb and awed the Filipino community with their stunts and dance moves. Thanks to Kuya Meynard of Kuwait Aquarium for the video :)



B-boying may have begun as a building, productive, and a constructive youth culture alternative to the violence of urban street gangs.[7] Today, b-boying culture is a discipline somewhere between those of dancers and athletes. Since acceptance and involvement centers on dance abilities, b-boying culture is often free of the common race and gender boundaries of a subculture and has been accepted worldwide. (Wikipedia)

IMO, Kuwait should promote the culture of sports and arts and to engage the youth in these productive activities. Youngsters nowadays gets bored easily that it's no wonder they turn to drugs and chasing women in their fast cars.

Schools and other organizations, from what I heard, has already started with Bboy competitions which is a very good sign for this genre.

Oh by the way, good job to all Filipino badminton players =) Can't say anything about the event as I was only there for 15 minutes.