DOHA // Kenyan security guard Michael Douglas Ongeri has a dream.
Though far from his family, he will not be daunted by poverty, a 13-hour workday or training in Qatar’s searing heat.
Nor will he let the 11 kilometres he has to walk from work to the track – then back home – slow him down.
“You get used to it,” Ongeri says matter-of-factly. “I have to do it, it is something which is me, I like running, I have to run.”
While many dream of becoming an international track star, the 22-year-old Kenyan may actually have a chance.
Six days a week, he leaves work around 5pm and heads to Doha’s biggest park, Aspire Park, in the shadow of the city’s Khalifa Stadium that will host the World Athletics Championship in 2019.
In temperatures of over 40°C and stifling humidity, the Kenyan puts on his training gear and, sweat pouring, runs up to 12km through Aspire’s green expanses.
Paid 1,400 Qatari riyals (Dh1,412) a month, Ongeri sometimes goes without food when it is close to his payday, as he may have no cash left.
“He is talented and I think he could achieve his dream as a 1,500metre/5,000m runner,” says former athlete Liz McColgan who with her husband, John Nuttall, founded and runs the Doha Athletics Club (DAC), which helps Ongeri train twice a week.
As a former 10,000m world champion, silver medallist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and winner of the New York and London Marathons, McColgan’s opinion carries weight. Her husband, also an athlete, competed in the 1996 Olympics and her daughter just ran in the 5,000m final in Rio.
“He has a really good running style so I could see him being a better track runner,” says McColgan who has been based in Qatar for the past two-and-a-half years.
“I met Michael when he sent me an email to the DAC website but I had seen him training alone at the park where we train, as it was unusual to see someone running so fast on his own,” says McColgan.
Younger members of the club surround Ongeri as he is training one night, with his coach Nuttall teasing him: “Come on Michael! Stop being so lazy!”
The security guard speeds past at a pace that marks him out from the other runners.
“Madame Liz”, as Ongeri calls McColgan, worries that any hopes he has of competing professionally could be scuppered by his lack of time to train.
“Unfortunately, he works ridiculous hours so can only run once a day,” she says. “If he wanted to race internationally you need twice a day.”
Ongeri grew up poor in Kenya’s Nyanza province and always loved running. But as the oldest son of five siblings, his duty was to his family, not his passion.
“My background wasn’t good, I faced hardship. I had to feed my family,” he says.
He ended up working on the same farm as his father and mother but word of a job in Qatar offered a chance to earn more money — and to run as well.
To secure his passage to the Gulf he paid an agent around $1,000 (Dh3,673) — cash he did not have but borrowed from an Italian boss at a shop where he worked in Kenya.
Three years on, after just repaying his loan and sending cash to his family, Ongeri survives in Doha on around $100 each month.
“Of course, now everybody [back home] is looking at me — ‘Please, I need this. Please I need that.’ It’s difficult, Doha is a very expensive place.”
As the temperature finally dips below 40°C, Ongeri has an hour’s running behind him and a 3km walk home ahead.
It may be a short distance from Aspire Park to Khalifa Stadium but it represents a lifetime’s ambition for Ongeri who hopes to one day end up running there.
“This is my dream, I will make it,” he says.
* Agence France-Presse
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2-litre%204-cylinder%20petrol%20(V%20Class)%3B%20electric%20motor%20with%2060kW%20or%2090kW%20powerpack%20(EQV)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20233hp%20(V%20Class%2C%20best%20option)%3B%20204hp%20(EQV%2C%20best%20option)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20350Nm%20(V%20Class%2C%20best%20option)%3B%20TBA%20(EQV)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMid-2024%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETBA%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
Company%20Profile
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A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars
Studying addiction
This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.
Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Sweet%20Tooth
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