Very unsure - Advice please Salwa Garden Village
 

My husband is very keen to relocate our family to Salwa Garden Village in 2 years time and work for BAE systems. He has been to a briefing and is excited about the lifestyle but I am more cautious. Can anyone tell me what it is like as I am genuinely concerned it will be like living in a Truman show like prison. Would I have to wear the abaya in the compound ? How safe is it ? What is it like when you arrive in the country ? Do you have to surrender your passport ? Our children are currently 4 & 6yrs old, would they have to cover up also ? Any opinions would be brilliant, thank you in advance.

Re: Very unsure - Advice please Salwa Garden Village
 

Salwa is an exclusive compound to BAE, so only occupied by Westerners, predominantly Brits, but a few Aussies and Americans. The compound is quite large, and when you're on the compound, you do not have to cover, and can pretty much go about your business as if you were in good old Blighty. As the compound is a fair way out of town, it has pretty much everything you will need. It even has it's own bars.it is a fairly new compound, so still in very good nick, and has been built and furnished to a very good standard. If your husband will be working at the HQ, he can walk to work as the offices are on the same site as the compound.

When you go off compound, you will need to cover and wear and abaya. The older kids will go, probably, to the British School, some 25-30 mins away by school bus, they will not have to cover on the bus, nor at school. The compound will be very safe for the kids.

BAE are probably a bit paranoid when it comes to safety, so the compound has every conceivable safety precaution. Saudi itself is relatively safe ,of course there are a few stories of crime, but very few and far between.

Saudi for westerners is very much compound life, they are plentiful, and widespread across the City, it's the 'norm'.

Re: Very unsure - Advice please Salwa Garden Village
 

there may be a branch of the Brit school @ Salwa as well

Re: Very unsure - Advice please Salwa Garden Village
 

There is a small section on the compound itself, it's the primary school for the kids who actually live on Salwa. The main site also has a primary school and this would be for kids from other compounds, so it's kind of run as two separate primary schools, but under the umbrella of the British School..