Some of the best paying expatriate assignments happen to be in the driest countries in the world – and I don’t mean those suffering from droughts in the climatic sense, I mean ‘dry’ in terms of the prohibition of alcohol.
Take Saudi Arabia for example – it’s a great place to live and work and pocket a small fortune to fuel the rest of your life’s dreams - but it’s also a nation where drinking alcohol is illegal, with those who break the law punishable by a long prison term and a possible public flogging.
There are a significant number of countries and states in the world where the importation, production, distribution and consumption of alcohol are all illegal – note: most of them are populated by people who follow the Islamic faith. (My understanding is that there are certain verses of the Qur'an which mention the forbiddance of any intoxicating substance). However, the confusing thing is that depending on where we’re talking about, the crime of consuming alcohol can be more or less seriously punishable, making the legal landscape a little hazy for even the soberest of expats.
Take Dubai as a classic example – it’s illegal to consume alcohol in Dubai – unless you have a license to do so in your own home or you do so at one of the licensed establishments in Dubai city. But if you move from an assignment in Dubai, where clearly expats can get around the law without being punished, and you move to live in Saudi or Libya and think that the same fairly slack rules apply, you could land yourself in such hot water.
And yet, some expats still think the risk of enjoying an alcoholic beverage is worth it?
On expat compounds in dry countries it’s a well known fact that you can easily get your hands on moonshine and take your chances - not only with the effects that this illegally manufactured concoction might have on your health, but with the authorities if they catch up with you. But surely it’s just not worth it? I really cannot get my head around how it could be worth it…am I missing something?
If you enjoy a drink that much that you cannot live without it for 3, 6 or 12 months at a time, maybe you should be considering rehab rather than relocation – or at least tailoring your search for assignments abroad to those nations where having a beer won’t have you arrested.
It’s a well-known fact that expats and alcohol go together like a horse and carriage - as explored in our earlier report by BeiraChick; but if local law states that it’s an offence to enjoy booze, who in their right mind would ignore that fact? Perhaps the question one should really be asking is not so much about how can expats need or want a drink that desperately, but why would a foreigner in a foreign land be so disrespectful of local laws that are built on a religious framework?
Thinking about it from that perspective, and any tiny soupcon of fun and merriment about the thought of illegally imbibing alcohol like naughty teenagers goes out the window, and instead we’re left with a frankly disturbing thought that maybe, when we go abroad, we don’t all bother to respect our host nation, its beliefs and fundamental moral framework. Looking at it like that is a very sobering thought don’t you think?
February's editor - who welcomes your thoughts and comments...
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