SAMEE-Our Story

There are many times we ex-ex-pats or children of ex-expats from the Middle East think of the past days as being safe, glorious, and plentiful. The bonding among expatriates in the 80s, especially in Saudi Arabia was great.  Colleagues of friends came to stay in friends' or colleagues' houses. They might have barely known each other but the trust was great and so was the bonding.

 

In Saudi Arabia:

 

We 1980s had the following events, for those who came in the late 70s like us:

·        The Koreans made roads in the 1980s

·        New Buildings being built

·        Caravan Market

·        Introduction of Sarawat Super Store. There was Safeway and –“International Market” called Sarawat 1.

·        Atari Games.

·        Shwarma

·        Musakkil

·        Tihama Bookstores

·        Al Baik. I never saw the name yet I remembered the logo in the sauces.

 

There was the broast and the usual chicken that was grilled and both cost similar except the grilled one had rice.

The Broast chicken had French fries and Toum’’(Garlic sauce).

 

SAMEE stands for Saudi Arabian and Middle Eastern Ex Expats. This gives us SAMEE.

Ok we don’t have a site because we need funding, once we have that a site can be easily be made.

SAMEE is not just for people who live or work in Saudi Arabia but also for people in the Middle East.

Condition being is time period:

1970s-2000.

 

Few cases of SAMEE making it big.

Few are:

·        LuLu Group Chairman: Yusuf Ali.

Age:68 years.

 

Wealth: 8.4 Billion US$

Story:

Yusuf Ali completed a diploma in Business management and administration and went to UAE in 1973 for his future. He is from a small town in Kerala, India.

He went to work and struggled but with the help of his uncle, he established a Hyper Market in UAE and the rest of the Middle East.

Website: https://www.lulugroupinternational.com/

Nationality: Indian

SAMEE congratulates Yusuf Ali, as his story encourages many expats to go in the Middle East.

This was man was not a great engineer or doctor but had knowledge of business and saw the positive side instead of complaining like a lot of expats.

 Expats, fail to learn Arabic despite living in the Middle East for more than a decade. Some think it is kind of a great thing not to know Arabic or the local language.

 

 

·        Al Haramain  owner Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman (Nasir)

Wealth: 250 Million US$

Age: 66 years.

Story:

Kazi Abdul Haque main founder of Al Haramain Perfumes. That is they are a brand representing Attar’.

He was a trader of agarwood or frankincense. This trade was done in Arabia for thousands of years by the Arabs.  A shop was opened in Makkah in 1970.

The current owner is a son of Kazi Abdul Haque.

Nationality: Sylheti Bangladeshi.

 

There are many such stories of expats making it big but in SAMEE we want to unite stories, memories, and bonding in one platform.

Some of the brands in Saudi Arabia:

·        Suntop juice

·        Afia

·        Savola

·        Vimto

·        Shani

 

The point is to keep united in one platform.

 

 

 

 

Please follow us:

·        Face Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/SAMEEXPATS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Ramadan in Saudi: 1980s

 

Ramadan was a special event and atmosphere of Saudi Arabia changed.  The people stayed up till long time at the night, 1-2 AM. The offices were from 10 AM -2PM and schools were similar time. The ifar was at around 6 PM (I think). The temperature was hot, you could feel as if your hand was burning in the heat of 40 degrees centigrade. This was Jeddah of the 1980s.

A place to be in with security, optimism and ‘no strings “attached friends.

Lot of well off jobs expats usually stayed in compounds or apartments.  The office was paying for it.

Some of the compounds were:

·         Saudi City- where staff of Saudi airlines lived and worked. These guys had football play grounds where you could play football at night, with flood lights. They had 6+ plus TV channels. , whereas Saudi TV was channel 1(“Qana 1 “ and Channel 2(“Qana thania”)

 

Src: https://hybridcamel.com/

 

 

Swimming Pool-Saudia

This was a special since rules and dress code did not apply here. In 1980s it was just for airline staff. (FREE).

 

·         Bin Ladin Compound.

 

Anyway that’s for another post.

The feeling in Ramadan was drinking 7UP or Pepsi Cola.  You could feel fasting ‘when you go the shop.

 

Foods in Iftar youngsters (Join GUME, a FB group for people who GREW UP in Middle East from 1980s-2000)

·         Shorba-kind of soup

·         Pudding

·         Dates

·         Juices-Lassi-made of yoghurt. Simply placing yoghurt into a blender and add a glass of water with sugar. Start the blender-for a minute or two.

·         Fruit juice-Watermelon

·         Fruits

·         Shwarma

·         Roast chicken

·         Soda-Shaani ,Pepsi,7up,Mirinda,Vimto

The whole table was full of iftar.

 

 

 

 

Iftar parties were not a trend but having iftar with your family. The iftar table was somewhat like above.

 

 

 

Drinks were really especial since it was HOT.

                

Figure 1Shani drink

 

 

After prayer there was a part 2.  You continued with iftar as well as sitcoms:

·         Punky Brewster

·         Full House

·         Silver Spoons

·         ALF

·         Cosby Show

Having iftar with your parents and siblings was great experience in the 1980s.

 

 

 

By SAME EXPATS

 

Face Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/SAMEEXPATS/

 

Face Book Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sameexpats/