Like so many who are on their way to do work in Afghanistan, I'm currently sitting pretty in one of Dubai's luxury resort hotels as I spend my time filling out visa forms and preparing material for the job that awaits me. And like any journalist, reporter, observer of life, and student of history, I'm constantly asking questions and evaluating what it is that is happening and has happened in this old port city turned modern capitalist experiment.
As the world's economy came to a screeching halt over the last few years, so too did the massive investment in once booming Dubai. Suddenly there were fewer new skyscrapers being erected and the big construction projects seemed to be taking longer to be completed. Shiny new office space remains empty, in a city that had forgotten what it was like before the oil and tourism dollars came flooding in.
That's not to say life and luxury have suddenly stopped here. On the contrary, anyone who visits Dubai today will see plenty of both. The skyline is still filled with bright multicolored lights, once the merciless sun goes down, the streets are still filled with people heading to or from work, the old Souq shopping districts as well as the never ending list of modern shopping malls are still busy. The economy may not be what it was, but the world still comes to Dubai on giant 747 and superjumbo Airbus A380 airplanes. They come seeking comfort, they come to go shopping, and if you really take the time to speak with people here you'll learn they still come seeking work.
This week I've been talking with Indian, Pakistani, and Afghan workers here in Dubai. Some who've been here long enough to have seen a dramatic change beyond imagination. Others haven't been here long enough to know much about it, but staying in their home country was no longer an option. It's a story that occasionally see's the light of day in the mainstream media, but it's a story that still amazes me.
(to be continued)
