DAMMAM, 31 July 2006 — In a heart rending tale, pedestrians in a city street all too often notice a woman sitting on the sidewalk under the hot sun making loud pleas to her ex-husband to allow her to live in his house from where she was recently evicted.
Umm Muhammad has been leading a life of abuse and humiliation on the streets of Dammam. A mother of five daughters and three boys, she was divorced by her husband of 25 years a few years ago.
She says her husband was extremely cruel and difficult to get along with. Umm Muhammad’s situation worsened as her father died shortly after her divorce leaving her and her children destitute and helpless.
With nowhere to go, she began living in a separate part of her husband’s house but the man would frequently drive her out with no regard for her and the children. “It’s for the sake of my children that I have been putting up with all these indignities,” she said.
She added that the social welfare department gives her a monthly allowance of SR700, which does not cover her lodging and food.
Umm Muhammad hopes for a better life and says that if the welfare system would include payments for her children then that would considerably help her in improving her life.
