Mold

I promised a follow-up on Saudi Oger, the company responsible for dealing with construction related issues and maintenance.  Saudi Oger also handles a number of other labors on Kaust campus including food services and printing (!), but none of them have so personally affected me as much as maintenance.  I think the best way to relate my observations is through my mold story.

When I first moved into my brand new apartment and went up to the second floor I noticed a large mold colony.  It was teal and black and circular, roughly six feet in diameter.  In the early days, maintenance was flooded with phone calls.  Students everywhere were dialing in to list the problems they had in their homes.  It took me over two weeks to get maintenance to come to my apartment.  While I waited, the mold grew worse and I was given a limitless supply of promises...

"When will your men be able to come?"
"In two or three days, sir, inshallah."

Aaaaaand pause.  Inshallah.  To this day that phrase sends shivers through my body.  Literally it means, "Allah willing,"  but everyone who has been told this by a Kaust representative knows that in this context it actually means, "Whatever you are asking for will almost certainly not happen, unless it is convenient or happens by mere chance.  In any case, I take no responsibility for what I am saying and it's not my fault."  In essence, it has been abused as a cop out.  While I am sure this phrase is used more responsibly and more honorably elsewhere, at Kaust it is the kiss of death.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been stood up by an inshallah, nor do I want to think about it.

The maintenance staff did eventually come to my apartment.  By staff, I mean a battalion of roughly ten men in the most thoroughly worn out clothing I have ever laid eyes on.  I cheerily escorted them up to the second floor and showed them the mold.  They told me, "Oh yes, no problem sir."  More shivers.  That's another tainted phrase.  Whenever Saudi Oger personnel tell you "No problem", beware.  Things are about to get much worse.

I proceeded to watch my non-problematic mold get painted over.  Seriously.  That is not a joke.  These ten men literally painted right over the mold.  That was the solution to my mold problem.  It wasn't even the same color as the paint on the wall.  After about a week the mold peeked through again.  I called maintenance again.  I ran through the maze again.  This time, I told the operator, the men need to remove the mold, not just paint over it.

The next crew Saudi Oger send was more modest.  It consisted of two men in an equally ragged state.  I felt bad for them as I think anyone would, having not grown up seeing workers in such a condition.  I felt even worse for them when I saw how they planned to extract the drywall that was covered in mold.  Their only tool was a rusty hacksaw blade.  And it didn't even have a handle.  They wrapped a paper towel around the blade so as not to cut themselves and took turns slaving away.  I kid you not.  It was the single saddest sight I take home with me from Kaust.  The two guys worked hard and breathed in a cloud of drywall dust and mold particles.  Like their predecessors, however, it was obvious that they were not trained in how to remove mold.  They took out the most densely covered part of the colony, but they left a wide ring of mold in place around it.  I didn't have the heart to stop them.  They patched up the hole and left.

The poor working conditions are a staple of life for Saudi Oger labor.  They usually come from India, Pakistan, or the Philippines on two year contracts, during which their passports are taken.  The pay is small and the standard of living dismal.  Some of the men ride buses in and out of Kaust.  Some live together on campus in barracks with no entertainment and no personal space.  There is not a single such worker that I have spoken to who enjoys what he is doing.  When I ask about it they hastily change the subject or give evasive answers like "We don't have a choice."  And for many of them Saudi Oger is the best option.  This is the most viable way to support their families back home.

I tried several more times over the course of the first semester to have the mold fixed.  Every time I would call in and ask for able workers.  There were none.  Nonetheless men would eventually come, sometimes at random hours.  Twice I came home to see my door open and my apartment filled with unauthorized troops of men.  Two would work while the others sat around.  In another instance I woke up at around midnight to noises on the third floor.  It turned out to be two laborers who had entered my apartment through the third floor balcony.  I was disturbed and demanded that all keys to my apartment be withheld barring my permission.  A rash of thefts had gone around campus targeting computers, external hard drives, and even university lab equipment.  Kaust security shrugged its shoulders at the victims' complaints saying that there was simply no hope of getting it back.

But it gets worse.  The mold in my apartment wasn't truly eliminated until October 2010.  I had mold for over a year.  Despite the countless workers who came and went in my apartment, the mold always returned.  I found out later via a Saudi Oger employee that the men had been instructed not to fix the root cause of an issue unless it was specifically mentioned by the resident.  For example, if I did not explicitly request that maintenance fix a leak that was feeding the mold, the leak would go untreated.  This happened multiple times.  When I requested that the leak be fixed, they worked on the air conditioner, which was dripping condensation.  They both failed to stop the condensation and ignored another leak source--the uninsulated pipes in the floor.  Try to wrap your mind around that.  The company in charge of fixing housing issues was purposely turning a blind eye to housing issues.

In an effort to appeal to the university for help I scheduled a meeting with the then-administrative head of Graduate Affairs.  Immediately after I mentioned that I was there discuss mold I was interrupted and the woman I was meeting with proceeded to tell me that I needed to be patient.  She told me that this school had been built at record speed, that there were bound to be hiccups, that Kaust was doing everything in its power.  It is remarkable to me that "everything in Kaust's power" did not include hiring a company of professionals to remove mold all over campus.  When I mentioned the possible safety issue of mold I was told that Kaust had paid a firm in Jeddah to do a comprehensive analysis on the mold issue.  The results, according to this woman, indicated that the mold was completely harmless.  This meeting took place in the second semester of the university.  Students had been worried about breathing mold for months and the university chose not to announce the results of this supposed analysis.  But why not?!  I voiced my confusion to the Graduate Affairs head and she conceded that, yes, in hindsight it would have been better to assure the students that they were in no danger.  Naturally I asked if I could look at the mold analysis report now.  Her reply?  She could not show me the report because it was classified.  Another priceless moment for the Kaust scrapbook.

This is how things are done at Kaust.