Security

Living in Riyadh requires us to change several of our “westerners” behaviors. When leaving the house, women need to wear the Abaya, guys can’t wear shorts above the knee. A certain degree of modesty is also needed when dressing the children. No hugging, holding hands or kissing in the streets..PDA are more than frowned upon!


One thing I was not prepared for was the security around Expatriates Compounds… Picture a nice little neighborhood, houses arranged in a large rectangle, with a small block of houses in the middle. The streets are lined with trees and kids ride their bikes around or slide on their ripsticks…nothing out of the ordinary so far. Now, imagine that a wall over 10 feet high rise around the whole group of houses and closes off the neighborhood to the outside. Once you have that mental image of a wall surrounded neighborhood, add a really tall chain link fence, topped with barbwire around the whole perimeter of the compound. It’s not easily climbed over… Cameras are also situated all around the fence, allowing us to view on 2 TV channels the comings and goings of anybody around.

Is this enough to make us feel safe? To provide secure housing for a bunch of expatriates workers and their families? You would think so, but after several attacks in the early 2000’s on compounds and the death of several expats, security around those was heightened and now, each entry is guarded 24/7 by armed Saudi soldiers and private security officers. Before being allowed into the compound, each car is submitted to a search. Headlights are turned off, the hood is opened, battery connector wires are checked, mirrors are placed under the car to check for bombs or other explosive devises. Trunks are also checked… The entry is also littered with speed bumps and makes you drive in zig-zag..no good for me, as I get car sick pretty easily! Only after all these security measures are you allowed inside the compound. Even then, once you are in your Villa, you can turn on two television channels that show the security cameras shots so, in case of attack, you can watch it live on television.

It has now become part of our daily life when coming back home after work, after shopping, after an outing to submit our car to the security searches. Thankfully we live in a pretty small compound and cars are usually checked fast if you are a resident. Outside visitors may have to leave their Iquama (resident card) at the gate, to ensure they will leave fast. Or some are not allowed totally inside. They can drive up to the main gate and have to park their car at the entrance.

So, earlier this week, I had signed up to attend a ladies’ coffee morning, one of those gatherings for stay at home ladies where lots of coffee is drunk, small talk is done and little booths sell odds and ends. Pretty uneventful but it’s a way to get out and see other faces and view amenities at other compounds. I usually don’t get a chance to take part in those, as they take place during the work week. So, I had signed up for coffee morning and several of my girlfriends also had. It was going to be a fun time!

After a 30 minute bus ride, we got stuck in LINE to go through the security gate for over 30 minutes… mind you, that compound had organized this coffee morning, inviting ladies from all over the city to join for a morning of fun and coffee drinking. However, the compound security guys seemed to be unaware of this and were checking each bus and their passengers like they were all security threats. Nevertheless, all the ladies were losing their patience. It was past 10:00 am, coffee morning started at 9:00, would end at 11:30 and we were not seeing the end of this security nightmare! Knowing this, we decided, still not close to getting in, that this particular compound was not worth our time and told the bus driver to just go on back to our beloved small compound.

One thing this whole adventure taught me was to truly appreciate our compound security procedure!