Blue Camel Social Committee – Community project, Saudi Arabia style!

What do people from Canada, India or France, a camel, ArcelorMittal and many firsts have in common? They all come together around our project of building a Tubular Products site in Saudi Arabia. Check out a report from Dave McGowan, a colleague on the spot, who explains how they spent a very warm desert night with the community…

“As you may know the project is a joint venture that has drawn a lot of international participation. We have some folks on site from India, China, France, Belgium, Canada, Egypt and the Philippines. The project team is currently located in Jubail Industrial City in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

As our Project Manager pointed out, this project will be full of many firsts and on a warm evening in May we had our first social event involving all the team, their families, and visitors in the social area located in the flat complex we occupy. Everyone pitched in to provide a wonderful dinner and a special desert was supplied by our Belgium and Canadian friends of thin crust pancakes with ice cream topped with many favourites including jams and some Canadian maple syrup.

For the kids, a Wii gaming station was available to enjoy while the older folks played a game of pass the basket ball. One of the young folks from India, Netra Bhadkamkar, filled a hat with many activities designed to “punish” you by requiring a joke or singing a song if you were caught with the ball. It was a great way to get to know all the neighbours. Our club has also had a couple of movie nights.

On a personal note, my firsts have been continuing every day but I have yet to ride a camel. So far, the most impressive first for me is 48ºC! I never imagined temperatures like this but I am told that I will experience higher…”

Author: Dave McGowan, Electrical Project Specialist, ArcelorMittal’s Tubular Products – Al Jubail