Lost and Found

by Cindy

Before we moved into our apartment, I accidentally left my purse on one of the shuttle buses. Once I realized I had left it, I called and left a message for Henri, the gentleman in charge of transportation. It was a Thursday (the weekend here) so I knew I was going to have to wait until Sunday before I heard anything back. I didn't have my passport in my purse but I did have every other type of identification along with several hundred Dirhams in cash. On Sunday afternoon when I boarded the shuttle bus, the driver said to me, "miss, wait right here" and he took off running (in 100+ degree temperatures). He showed up in about 10 minutes, dripping with sweat, and had my purse in a bag. I told him thank you and started to sit down on the bus. He said, "no miss, please go through everything to make sure it is all there. Please count all of your money and look for everything." I had no idea how much money should have been in the purse but I went ahead and counted all of it (he corrected me when I got two of the coins mixed up) and confirmed (multiple times) that everything was there. Once I had convinced him everything was there, he wanted me to be sure and let his boss (Henri) know that he had returned everything to me.

I was amazed on several levels. One, that my purse was returned to me with everything in it. Two, that I was not worried about it at all because I really knew it would be returned to me without anything missing. Three, the kindness of everyone involved and four, the realization that if something had been missing, small or large, this bus driver would have been deported and never allowed back into the country. He takes his job very seriously and it is the lifeline to his family back home. They work long, hard hours but do it with a smile on their faces and an incredible thankfulness to have a job. While some of the circumstances around the workers over here troubles me, they have an incredible attitude and sincere thankfulness for their jobs.

I know that if I had left my purse on a shuttle bus in the USA I would never have seen it again. Here, I got it back with everything in it. I like that, I like the UAE.