Khalaf Al-Harbe Okaz A colleague and a friend of mine woke upon one morning during these difficult times for his family resulting from the lack of a housemaid. Half asleep, he went to the nearest shop and bought a daily Arabic newspaper. When he got back home he started browsing through the paper, looking for a recruitment office to end his predicament as soon as possible. His mission was not impossible or difficult. The newspaper was full of advertisements from recruitment offices. In fact, the daily papers are filled with ads from recruitment offices in bright colors, with mobile phone numbers written in bold letters. They are very eye-catching, and one can never miss them. My fried picked one of the offices from among the ads, and immediately went there. He was warmly welcomed by the hospitable owner. My friend signed a contract with the office to recruit a housemaid, and paid the cost, to which every family member had contributed. The office owner told him that the housemaid would arrive in two or three months, maximum. He came back home beaming with happiness. At last all the problems caused by the absence of a housemaid would soon be over, and his life would return back to normal. A few months were all that was separating him from the return to normal life. Two months later he went back to the office to inquire about the arrival of his housemaid, but he found the office closed. In fact, it looked as if the office had never even existed. I am sure that most of my beloved readers were expecting this outcome the moment they started reading this article. The story, however, is not in the closure of the office, but in its opening from the very beginning. My friend went to the Labor Ministry to inquire about the office, only to be in for more surprises. The ministry told him that the office was not licensed to recruit foreign manpower, but only to provide public services like pursuing paperwork with government departments. He asked the ministry: how was the office allowed to publish large ads in newspapers, and even place a large billboard at the storefront, advertising that it was an office for foreign manpower recruitment? They told him that this was not their responsibility but the responsibility of the Commerce Ministry. He went to the Commerce Ministry where he was told that the office was not a recruitment or public service company, but a contracting company specialized in digging, construction and building maintenance. At the Commerce Ministry our friend discovered that he was not the only one inquiring about the office. There were many other people there who had paid money, signed contracts and were waiting for their housemaids who never showed up. He started talking to the other people about who was responsible for their mess while waiting for the final word from the ministry about his complaint against the office. They could not reach an agreement on who was responsible. Was it the Labor Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce, or the Ministry of Culture and Information that remained silent about the misleading advertisements? While those waiting continued their futile discussion, an employee of the Commerce Ministry showed up. He came to them with the final result about their complaint. They all stood up and asked him in one voice: what is the good news? He told them in clear words that the ministry had written to the governorate, requesting that they look for the office owner. He said that he also hoped that they would join in the manhunt for the elusive owner.
