Puthiya Purayil Koya, 58, from Calicut, Kerala, came to the Kingdom hoping to raise money to treat his eldest daughter after doctors suggested that surgery could cure her hearing impairment.

“When my eldest daughter was born doctors said she needed an operation to correct her hearing problem,” Koya said, adding that he decided to come to Saudi Arabia for work in order to raise the money.

“After five years, his second daughter was born with similar problems. Now I have two daughters who need to be operated on,” he said.

Koya said he spent his young years trying to save the money without any success. “After many years of hard labor it became certain that this was an impossible mission. My salary never went beyond SR900,” he said. “I have become desperate. What is the use of the long years I spent away from home if I cannot raise the money to save my own flesh and blood?”

Koya said he started weighing his options to go back and be with his family or to stay here and try to make the needed amount.

“I am not young any more. If I go back home I will not find work and will not be able to feed my family. If I stay here, I will be away from my family in my old age and I will never be able to make the required money. I decided to leave the matter of money and operations in the hands of God and remain in the Kingdom to send what little I can to my family,” he said.

Koya appealed to all those with “soft hearts” to help him and put an end to his misery.