Mistreatment of Expat Employees in Dubai

So here is the story, yesterday I went to my guitar class at around 1800hrs, and on my  walking way to the center, I started hearing laud screaming / yelling voices, and when I arrived I saw this tall blonde lady screaming at one of the center’s front desk ladies, and since everyone was letting her do her yelling, screaming and throwing of files all over the place, I automatically assumed that she was the owner or the manager, or some higher power, she was yelling in such a non- professional way at that girl, who was Asian, I would say Philippino, well she was just standing there, with her eyes on the ground, she looked so helpless, I felt so sorry and so afraid, the second front desk lady saw me and came to me apologizing and explaining that it is holiday and the teacher won’t come (silly me thought that the teacher would be there even during the last week of the year), on the back ground there was still that screaming oh my God, it was the loudest I have ever heard, I walked back home and the sound of the yelling question ringing in my head “ ANSWER MY QUESTION” . I thought to myself, whatever that girl did, shouldn’t have turn on that kind of behavior from the higher power, no one deserves to be humiliated or treated that way,  whatever happened can be solved, the only thing in this life that cannot be taken back is death, and I am sure that, that girl didn’t kill anybody.

Well this whole story made me think of one thing, we are all expatriates in this country, are we all risking to have such a treatment if one day we make a mistake?  Will we be discriminated for holding a different nationality? Will we always be the outsiders, the infiltrated and the others? Will we have all our rights protected? There will be always a higher power over everyone, will this higher power be fair or unfair? Will it be humanitarian and caring about the next, or not?

Is there a law that protects me and you, that we are not aware of?

MB

Who is me in Dubai?

I just moved to Dubai, I look back on those first days, and think to myself what did I do, and where I am going.

The reason behind the moving, is that one day I woke up and found myself unemployed, saw my future plans broken, and since my father is heading one of the Libyan Companies in Dubai, I decided to move with him, and try my luck in Dubai.

In the past days, I went for 2 different interviews, and both called back with the same reply, “you are just to qualified, we wouldn’t want to ruin your career”, in my head raised a huge, massive question mark “?WHAT”, I was willing to just take any job, but I wasn’t quite ready to beg for it, and what does “to qualified” mean anyway?, I was the one who applied for the job, so I am ok with it …dah !!!. I wanted to do this the normal, mortal way, no recommendations, no close relative or friend involved, but you know what I came to realize, it is not the way it works.

All the above happened within the first and the second week, half way through the third week, a great Idea popped to my head, why don’t I just open my own business, do what I know how to do, but this time, I will be my own boss, and my business will carry the human rights flag, will give support to all the charity foundations and free medical practice around the area, my business will not discriminate by, gender, race, religion or color.

The last couple of days, I spent night and day, brain storming, working on a business plan, creating my own logo, working on my website and preparing the ground that I will be working on, I am few steps away from being ready to face the crowd, and start running.

Ironically, just now that I got my motivation back and won the fight against discouragement, here it comes an unknown position in a Libyan company, it seems big and the pay would be good but, what about my dream company.

Now I am in a dilemma, should I go for my own business and risk being broke in few months if it doesn’t work out the way I planned, or should I go for this other position that will guarantee an income, and would secure my future in Dubai, I need help choosing!

Some probably thought “take the job and keep my business on the side, right?” yeah I thought that too, what if I neglect one or the other, that wouldn’t be fair.

What should I do?

MB 

Lost Souls - by Sweet Madness

In this heartless creation
It is hard to understand
Why some souls choose to wander.......

Forgetting

Yet I am lost without wandering
My love is a ghost
Ancient - with wisdom
Vital - with tears
Not able to move on
Unable to let go

It's hard to remember a love
You don't recognize in this life
Yet the memory is without thought
Agony - without knowledge
This love - is without mercy

Passing through eternity
Life to the next
Forever searching
In a labyrinth of whispers
For a blissful love

Lost

Longing for the touch
I'll sense when I feel
Whispering to my heart
Comforting this stoned soul

Our love burns within me
But I am lost in the shadows
This entity of dreams
Forever killing me

I believe this love is eternal
The flame will not relinquish
Forever circling me
The very matter of my existence

But for now I simply breath
Awaiting your rescue
Music - bonding our souls
Pain - stirring the memories
While silence shouts out this melody


the first time i read the Poem, I thought in myself, am I? am I ready to face my fears ?

one thing I know for sure, I am the only one that will make my right and wrong choices.

The RUN !!

Big building, long dark streets, no one is around, the wind is blowing in my ears and I am walking, I am walking and I can’t really remember when I started my journey or for how long I have been in it, my mind is blurry and my eyes are burning, I look at my hands, I can see they are shaking, I take a deep breath and think, it is almost over, but the truth is another, I still have a long way to go, the thought takes me over and I start panicking, my heart start beating fast I can almost feel it jumping out of my chest, and all of a sudden I stop, I can’t think, I can’t talk, I am losing my breath, I can’t feel my body, it is all numb, there is a voice in my head, I can hear it, it is mine, I am talking to myself, am I going crazy, or am I dead? why I am not moving? Where is everybody? Why am I alone? And then; all sweating I woke-up” hoff; it was just a dream I say, or WAS IT?

It is life. Life became a whole run after something, something! I come to think, what is life about? is it about family? Is it about career? Is it about dreams of concurring the world? Is it about doing what you love? But what is really what you love? Do you like the words you write? Do you like the clothes you wear? Do you like the food you fix? The car you drive? Or the man you are with? What is life all about? I wasted to much thinking wrong, It is not about what I want? It is about what makes me happy, I just want to be happy.
My analyses of happiness starts today, I will no longer let myself drown, I will pursue happiness in all its forms, it is my turn to put down the rules.

Babes

We never know how lucky we are, to have someone beside, until this person is gone, yesterday was hard to say goodbye to someone that was a great friend and a sure even greater work partner.

We never knew how we became this close and we never know when it all started, it is funny how destiny make things happen and never gives you a reason why, like an invisible character that has a small part in a movie, that can change the whole carrying out of the events. In my life destiny gave birth to long lasting human relations in which I found myself incapable of making a change, on the opposite I was the victim of the change, in my experience with Barbara, who is a young free spirit, a smile that says a thousand words, big eyes that sparkled with humanity, and a brain that is programmed with the divine obligation of answering all the questions that the world drops on her path, with her you can’t see the physical imperfections, because her soul is simply perfect, I was able to see my own reflection in her, it was good to share ideas, thoughts and information, it fills me with pride that she is a part of my “ things that make me happy list”, she always gives and never expect payback, she turned off the fire in me when I was just to mad to see, she gave me a hug when I just needed someone to comfort me, she laughed about my crazy ideas, and she set calmly next to me when I just didn’t feel like talking, she was honest to me when I was just lying to myself, she was my honored adviser every time I came to her with a new crush, she saw my potentials when I couldn’t see it myself, she was just there every time I needed her, but Now she is gone.

Yes; she is gone physically and I know why? She gave her everything to survive as long as she did, I know she misses the simplicity of what she didn’t find her, the comfort of home, a bear with friends and mostly her Mom, with the brain and soul she has, she can find a great future anywhere she wishes to go, but what I know for sure is that we will meet again, since we are both citizens of this world, our paths will cross one day, she is good in keeping long distance friendship, but only the great strong bonds survive, and we both have that one.

It is only a chapter (1) the future will have a saying in it, let’s just wait and hope.

Dedicated to Babi.

The email that woke him-up !!!

Two days ago, I sent an email to a friend that I was losing, he is an Argentinian who had been living here for a while, he is so nice and has the greatest sense of humor ever, he worked with the company for longer than myself, I couldn't even remember how we started talking or how we became friends, but if I go far back in my memory, I see a nice sunny afternoon, in one of his reflection sessions in the garden,"Bahiano way" we started talking and he was so funny, I didn’t even ask him his name that afternoon, and then when we were about to go back to the office we crossed one of our drivers on the way in and the driver greeted him saying “ Hi Mario” he gave him back a hi and turned to me saying “ I don’t know why this guy calls me Mario when my name is Diego!!!” the way he said it was so funny I didn’t stop laughing all the way to my office.

Along the way I remember so many funny scenes, like that one time, he was so busy and didn’t have time to go cut his hair and let it grow into a natural spiky due, and just to make me laugh he bounced his head on the sides to move his hair gracefully, on his way to an important meeting lol that was very funny :P.

During the past couple of months he kinda disappeared, and every time I went to see him he wasn’t there and never took my phone calls, I got angry “ kind off” because for me, being friends means sticking out for each other and being present, anyhow, some sources told me that he was going through a depression and also gave me a quick view on his past experiences within not only the company but also as an ex-pat in my country. He wasn’t really doing good at work and his wife couldn’t handle staying here and he had to send her back home, he was kinda feeling alone I guess and left out, I think that is why he was depressed.

Returning to the email, I was angry at him so, I sent him a very strong but nice email, telling him basically that he was an AH and that I miss the funny nice him, I also expressed the fact that he can rely on me if he needed a friend, the next day which was yesterday; he was standing in my office !! we had a cappuccino together and we catch up on the lost time " that was really sweet of him", and he told me about a training course that he would be attending in Salvador within the same time frame of my course, so we decided to meet-up and have a dinner in a different environment, in a country were both of us will be strangers, we will share one page in the book of our memories and I am happy for that.

Thiago !!!

I am a strong believer in chemistry, that’s between people, sometimes you just get along with individuals, that came into your life or maybe you went in theirs but somehow you met, maybe you don’t have anything in common, you don’t speak the same language, you don’t eat the same food, you don’t dress alike, or cheer for the same soccer team, but you do get along for some magic reason. This is how I get along with Thiago.

Thiago, is a great sensitive, shy guy, a hard worker and a very competent person, if you pass him by on the streets he would never catch your attention, but the minute he speaks you would know there is something special about him, I can still imagine him in his shorts playing soccer with the guys, wearing the black and green sweat jacket, with his very tanned skin, dark puppy eyes and a little shy smile. I understand how being far from home is hard but out of desperation he teamed up with the bad guys ( Renatão, Queridão and Felipe) God help this guy “ krkrkrkr (by the way he supports the Flamengos that won a couple of days ago Vs Corinthians).

The very first time I met him was at Babi’s Birthday, at the health club after being around looking for her Birthday cake, we arrived there and Thiago was the one that with no word said; helped us hide the cake before she arrived, we didn’t speak much that day because my understanding of Portuguese was still poor, but I remember that he made fun of me :)

the few times we spoke, we had great laughs, and he always manage to make me smile, although he speaks little English, but has a tone of voice that is a sign of kindness. I feel sorry that I took his presence for granted, I never really thought of calling to say Hi or ask about him, I just knew he was there and doing fine, when the opportunity came while I was on duty at the project, I would stop by to say Hi, but never been anything special, now that he is leaving the Project and going back home to Brazil, I feel so bad that I didn’t take time to know him better.

I have a nice memory of Thiago!! Once he came to our office and when he saw me, with a smile in his face he said “dami um abraço” which in Portuguese means give me a hug, he was so sweet, that hug will be a nice memory to carry over the years.

saudades...

MB

The Tripoli International Fair

The past week I was doing some reflection of my own, I was doing some over-time work at the Tripoli Fair, it was packed with people and I was analyzing the surroundings, the society I live in and the people in it, I came up with some conclusions:
· First thing I noticed are the women!! They were all dressed up, with the best outfits in their closets, with Heijab or without, they made sure to be noticed by everyone, why do you think that happened? The Tripoli International Fair is an Event, a chance for women to be looked at and Noticed by the public, Man or Women, a chance to be admired , liked, and went after. Since this is a conservative Islamic society, we don’t have the privilege of having Discos, or social clubs, let alone night clubs where couples can have a date, it is somehow forbidden. So the girls of all ages try to make the most of such kind of event, and maybe come out of it with a companion that might in the future become a potential husband. Yeah that is what all women who go to this fair aim for. Making a catch.
· Boys: yes boys, they come to this event to work out the utmost moves in bothering and doing nothing but going after girls and eating like pigs, it is outrages the ignorance they live in, they are not there to make purchase or business or not even to educate themselves.
· Families, who are there just to have a change in the routine of their lives.

So if you’re going this fair put the above categories in mind and make sure you don’t fit in the wrong category.

MB

Why do I feel guilty when I shouldn’t?

Last night I was having a chat with a very good friend, about a certain event that was the speech of the moment and involves another person, whom I like a lot.

I was really exhausted, out of working to much at the Fair, but it is a subject that interests me a lot, so I just carried on the conversation, anyhow while I was chatting with my friend I mistakenly accused one of her friends to be gossipy, at that moment, I didn’t thing I did the most horrible thing on earth, but she just blocked and didn’t want to talk anymore. She didn’t even react to my apology, which is not normal, me and her are so much similar, we react very well to apologies.

She ended the conversation saying we will talk tomorrow, well today is tomorrow.
I will talk it over with her, I am sure everything will be all right, but still I don’t know why I feel so bad and guilty?!

ups and downs !!!

I don’t know why I feel like this but imagine this:

I use to be in love with a man that didn’t give me anything, I was doing all the sacrifices and make all the compromising, until one day he went away to his home country and then we tried to work out a long distance relationship, until it is my turn to go join him. I was all excited and happy that we will get married, I was trying to take care of my health; working out every morning to shape my body and be wedding dress proof, the surprise came 2 months after he left, he started acting weird and talking strange, I know it when something is not right, so I asked him if something was wrong and for a while he said nothing is wrong and that it is all work stress, but still things didn’t seem right, until one day I just got angry and told him that I know; I know something is going on and I asked the classical question, “ did you meet someone?” and he said yes but he is not in love with her, he just slept with her, I tried to give myself all the excuses ever to forgive him, I was devastated and felt awful, and I just couldn’t handle it and I left him, he accused me of being cold and not worthy. Maybe he is right!!

At the time I was with him, I actually found my dream job, I was employed by a company that had a lot to offer me, good job, good salary and lots of good experience, and within my devastation I tried to keep myself together, so one person who worked with me was being a friend and stood closer to me, “P” made me feel worthy again, and gave me all the friend support, he was there to give a hug when I needed and was there when I needed advice, even just to sit and talk, I don’t know maybe the loneliness or the need of closeness, that made me feel something for him, but I started to want him so bad. He had everything that I ever wanted in a man, but he was still the wrong man, he calls me special and he says “I love you” every time we talk, I maybe knew it is just a good friends love what he meant, but it had something stronger than that. and because he had a family; two wonderful children and a wife, he couldn’t allow himself more, as a person who gives compromises, I was ready to settle for the good friend position, but the time came for him to say goodbye as well, he said that we were friends and connected forever. I miss him so much today after 2 months even if we meet online almost every day. but he started to take me for granted and not paying attention anymore, I wish one day he comes looking for me, although he never did, I was the one who always went looking for him.

Today, one lady that always acts like she hated “P” and who also knew that I loved him, calls me to say that she will be travelling and then asked me if I knew where she was going, not knowing I obviously said NO and she said she is going where he is today, and asked me if I wanted to send him something, I said “ No, just give him a hug for me” , I am not even sure I was supposed to do that. It hurts so much and I don’t even know why?
Why I never get what I want, my love life sucks and it is effecting everything.

MB

Let’s have a round of applause….!!!!

Once upon a time, not long ago, our restaurant responsible, who is a Spanish guy called Javier
, decided to surprise our company receptionist, who is a guy called Marwan with something Marwan would’ve never expected, AN APPLAUSE, Javier started clapping and shouting out his name in the middle of the restaurant while everybody was having lunch, and not long after every single person started clapping, screaming and whistling. For no reason at all, saying Marwan\m/Marwan\m/Marwan… oh my god !! it was so funny and kinda lift every bodies mood up.

This thing became the lunch hour tradition, every day there is a new victim lol, and people started to come for lunch early so they won’t get the round of applause lol

I wonder whose turn is tomorrow, I HOPE IS NOT ME !!!

Bjos

Fabio..!!

A kind creature usually called by friends and family “ Tin Tin”, that feeds himself with protein shakes, doesn’t taste or smell food because of some nasal dysfunction, calls soups by color, most liked activities are sports and photography, spoken languages are ahaa and porra, happy most of the time, helps everyone and has the superman syndrome.

Lol, Fabio, ohhh Fabio, actually he is the sports instructor at the Health club of our Company, I have never seen in my life such a patient person, listens carefully, cares and says the cutest things, I remember when he first joined the company, everyone was expecting a huge body built guy, perhaps bold and snobbish, but he had a small well maintained body and a very very big heart, he mixed with the crazy crowd, Luca and compagnia bella (nice people), I think he is getting crazy as well. One of the many skills that Fabio has is photography, wow people, the pictures he takes always tell a story, but I always wondered why someone that takes such wonderful picture always sticks his tongue out when he has his pictures taken, I am not sure what is he trying to do?!?! Looking ugly or just having his own signature. Mahhh.

The bottom-line is that he is one of my best friends and would never trade his friendship with anything in this world.

Te Amo Fabião

10 things that make me happy!!!

this is an idea that i had from an other pal blogger: Mr. AS THE WORLD CHANGES.
10 things that make me happy:
1- My 2 little twin sisters
2- A full strong hug.
3- A smile in a kid’s face.
4- Corner meetings with Babi.
5- Being called Bonitihna by Renatão.
6- The sweet little things André does.
7- Being mentored by Omar.
8- Being asked for advice.
9- Laughing out loud.
10- Coffee.

Medical Mystery !!!

I have a story to tell, and a point to make, on February 27th 2010, my sister suffered from pregnancy high blood pressure, that caused her to louse conscience and start having seizures, biting her tongue and rolling back her eyes, a scene that I wouldn’t wish to anyone, and since she lives in Ben Ashore Area we decided to take her to the nearest Clinic; Al-Mukhtar, at 08 in the morning upon arrival to the clinic, no one was at the ER “ God only knows where the staff that gets paid to provide care at the ER were?” anyhow; after the scream of desperation of my sisters father in law, some showed up and took my sister straight to ICU, were she stood until the surgery time, where they had to deliver a pre-mature baby girl, to save my sisters life. (I consulted a good number of Doctors on the matter and they confirmed that it was the right thing to do in these cases to ensure the safety of the Mother, and I have no negative comments on the subject), now while my sister was in coma and her body was puffed up, she looked so different and pale, they (AKA ICU staff) said that inserting the needle of the serum in her neck will be better than the arm, and will have a faster effect which means a good thing, and who are we to question Doctors orders, so we didn’t comment, they know better!!!
Now within the same time we had in that clinic 2 family members ( my sister and her premature little daughter ): Case # 1 was under observation at the ICU. Case # 2 was also in the infants ICU, she was so small and very premature, but alive, the Doctor suggested that we give the baby 2 shots of some kinda hormonal serum to help the growth of her organs, which we did!! But they gave us no guaranties on the survival of the baby, (I also consulted a good number of Doctors on the matter, and they all told me that premature babies do survive in such kind of cases but with an intensive care and a long treatment schedule, and they treated a lot of other similar cases and they are grown up and some are married today). ICU, most of the people who have a non medical background will imagine an Intensive Care Unit to be extremely Sterilizer, Clean, Quite with sliding doors that make no sound and that include also the people who go in that unit.
Of course most of the people living in Tripoli know how this clinic look like from the inside, it’s an old Ex-residential building transformed into a privet clinic, bedrooms transformed into check-up rooms, other rooms transformed into ICUs’, wooden old doors and very unmaintained bathrooms, the sounds of the slams of the wooden doors can actually scare you in your standard, regular healthy day, imagine if you were sick, in pain and in a coma, or even worst a premature baby that just came into this world, well let’s say that the slamming of the doors was the smaller, digestible part of the worst, of course the baby needed to stay in an incubator, I researched this medical device online and what I found is that “ These plastic boxes keep baby warm in one of two ways: They may be set to stay at a certain temperature, or a probe that monitors the baby’s temperature may be connected to the incubator to heat or cool the air as needed. Incubators also protect premature babies from infection, noise, and light, and may provide humidified air to maintain skin integrity in very premature babies”, ok now that was very informative, because our baby was in an incubator that had 2 holes on one of the sides which were supposed to have gloves on the inner end of the box, but of course because this Clinic had the only incubator in Libya as stated by the Administration, it had to be malfunctioned, one the 3 day of life of this baby, the Doctor on shift asked for blood plasma for the baby, who blood type was A+ like her Daddy, now; why do you think they needed the plasma?I researched and researched for so long and the reasons might be one million but just know that plasma contains antibodies and antitoxins, antibody, which are used against the introduction of a bacterial poison, or toxin. The bottom-line is that the baby died that same day.
The staff; I had not seen most of the Doctors but as pretended by the Administration they are all high qualified Doctors, holders of the highest Degrees from the highest Institutions in Europe and US, ok I won’t disagree, but the Nurses, or who were once called “ Malaykat Al-Rahma” Angels of Mercy, in my 28 years of life and with the 4 surgeries I had, I have never seen this amount of nurses in one clinic, and the quality of their work, that was fantastically impressive, the patient room bells rang so many times till I personally wanted to go check on the patient who was ringing for help, but the fully dressed with lots and lots of make-up Nurses were too busy chatting and eating, and not willing to have a one minute break from the busy chat to take care of their duties.
During my childhood, one of my dreams was to be a Nurse, but the basis of this dream were different, I wanted to help others, and be able to relief them from their pain, but then I changed my path because I didn’t have a steady hand, and that would’ve been dangerous, but the most important thing is that I wanted to do it because it is a humanitarian profession, based on the pure wish of helping the next. Well this is not the case at Al-Mukhtar Clinic, the Nurses wanted to do something they like while getting paid, (being with their likes, chatting, eating, wearing scrubs and putting 5kg of make-up on their faces), God Bless Them!!!
Remember that needle in my sisters neck, it was inserted by one of those fabulous Nurses, after the relies of my sister and the payment of a total Amount of 8,000 LYD for 5 days of Lousy Medical service, my sister started to feel a strong pain in her neck accompanied nausea and high temperature, Nice isn’t it? Now guess what she had? AN INFECTION AND BLOOD CLOTS, What would you do in this case? I know go back to the clinic and ask the Doctor about the causes, which we did, and the cause was as we all expected. (and we are not holders of ant Medical Background what so ever). the Doctor again asked her to stay in for the night under observation which ended up to be one whole week of treatment with Heparin, with such an ugly mistake by a health care provider, the reasonable and ethical thing to do, to make-up for the mistake done by my own employees is ?! “ NOT TO CHARGE” , but yet again we paid 2,000 LYD, after leaving the Clinic my sister had to continue a treatment prescribed by the Doctor, and we are still fine with that this treatment costs from 2.500LYD to 3.500 depending on the Pharmacy, “ yeah that does sound cheap” and again we are fine with the 6 moths treatment, but the funny thing happened yesterday, when my sister went to buy that same mendicant form the pharmacy of that same Clinic, and was shocked when the pharmacist told her that it costs 10 Dinars and not the 2.500 or 3.500, Ladies & Gentlemen, what a scam?
Be aware,
MB

The Real Meaning of Things.....!!!

The human being is the most complex creature in terms of emotions, it is fascinating how the brain sends out so many emotions towards someone or something, according to the facts surrounding, image, shape, taste, sound and feeling are all facts that can affect our opinion, and drive us to have an emotional reaction.

Let’s take Love as an example; an emotional feeling that can be toward a person or an object, to which we can be attached to unconditionally and call them beloved, why is so? Love doesn’t develop clearly until we reach our mature age, and are able to give opinions and judgments on the subject, most of the time we develop an emotional feeling for something that was there since our early childhood age, or it was pound on us; where there was no freedom of choice, so we grow getting used to it and translate that into love, as an adult emotions are what we use to fill the holes in our feelings and most of the time those holes were created be feelings in themselves, like a child that was sexually abused that grows with the tendency to be abused and call it love.

LOVE the good love; the love that can be translated as a condition or phenomenon of emotional primacy, or absolute value. Love includes an emotion of intense attraction to another person. This Love is commonly considered impossible to define. but at the same time very hard to resist, especially when you have to deal with the person that you spent most of your life looking for, the one that fits the divine profile of your dreams, in my case love is about the simple things; it’s about caring, with a look in the beautiful gray eyes of the one I love, a touch of his hands a hug that emanates warmth and for a moment he makes you feel safe from all kind of harm. Oh gosh I think I am in love with someone that will never be mine. Is it platonic love? Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. A simple example of platonic relationships is friendship between two heterosexual people of the opposite sexes.At the same time, this interpretation is a misunderstanding of the nature of the Platonic Idea of love, which from its origin was that of a pure but passionate love, based not on uninterested but virtuous restraint.

but it is still real....

The Reflective Moment

One day you would open your eyes to the crud reality, realizing that for you the time had stopped since graduation, seeking the career that you never really had, worked everything but mastered nothing, had been the friend of everyone but best friend no one. A family that was built over nothing no morals or basis the American dream in a big house that looks fine from the outside, empty inside, no freedom, bought with the dirt called money that was spent to improve the quality of our lives, but what is really the quality of life? I never really understood what was referred too.

Finally I found! You would ask what? What I want, what I never really thought I wanted, a position that gave me the opportunity to show what I can do, something useful to the next, along the way I met the best people; Mastminds, Professionals, Mentors, Friends and Family. Some helped me overcome the difficulties, some held my hand and made walk, some smiled at me and said that I will do just fine, some taught me to say No when I wanted and not feel guilty about it, and others I got too attached to till the point of not handling them leaving my sight, but they helped me know that the future is even brighter than the present, and as long as we are alive we will forever be connected, and I believe them.

Not every day you would find yourself working in an environment where everyone makes you feel like family, show you the respect and the integrity that you never thought existed, working, living and finally loving every step you make.

I have the support and the solidarity that I needed and I am going to take good care of it, and give it back the best way I can!!

This is dedicated to my beloved friends and co-workers at Odebrecht.

Abs,

Mona