JEDDAH: Just after iftar as the sun sets, Abdulrahman Gazi, a Saudi father and engineer at Saudi Aramco, gathers his three teenage sons and heads out to a kiosk he has built to sell baleela (a chick-pea snack popular during Ramadan) and liver sandwiches on the side of a busy street in Al-Safa district.
However, this enterprise Gazi and his sons have been doing for the past 12 years isn’t as it sounds. This is more than about earning extra cash during the holy month; this father has another reward in mind: To teach his children the value of hard work, social responsibility and to help rid Saudi society of the taboo of taking up certain jobs.
“From the beginning my kids used to play in the street just as other boys do with friends and neighbors, and I often would fear what would happen to them if they were to begin hanging out with the wrong type of people,” said Gazi.
“For this reason I softly suggested the idea of opening a busta, or kiosk, in the neighborhood. Explaining that my role would be to direct them and that in exchange for their work they would receive an equal split of the profits of the business, an idea they liked.”
Gazi said the “positive enforcement” from his wife (who prepares the food) and his sons’ teachers has helped.
Gazi said he believes young Saudis need more positive role models that should first be from the family, namely the father and the mother, and then they should find support from the local community.
“If you look back, Saudis worked as carpenters, chefs, gardeners and the like before the oil boom of the 1970s, but now where has everyone gone?” he said. “Because they cannot find high-ranking jobs they sit at home unemployed saying they are looking for work. If they are truly looking for work there are many opportunities to do this all over the city, but the problem isn’t that there are no jobs; the problem is that many nationals are too proud to work in entry-level jobs.” Gazi said he believes Saudization would only be effective when Saudis decide to support Saudis.
“For example, many people here if given the choice to choose a foreign mechanic to fix their car for SR50 or go to a Saudi and pay SR100 they will opt for the foreigner because it is cheaper,” he said.
“However, in this way they are only hurting the country. Maybe they don’t think that the Saudi is charging more because he’s offering quality service and parts for the car whereas the foreigner is there to make money at any cost and send it back home to his family.”
Gazi said the initiative he started with his children has enabled them to afford to buy a car and a computer, and to pay for courses at local institutes to further their education.
“This year I was surprised to see that my sons have begun bringing their friends from the neighborhood and school who say they are interested in working, too,” Gazi said.
“I believe if every father dealt with his kids with ease instead of force, and if businesses offered more opportunities, everyone would see the old model of being proud to do any job returning and bringing with it young Saudis of increased honesty and integrity.”
