RIYADH: A YouTube video clip, entitled “Goodbye my KSA, Goodbye,” performed by a young Filipino, has gone viral in the Kingdom over the past few days.

The clip has received more than 250,000 views on YouTube channels and Arabic e-magazine sites since it was posted a week ago.

The clip tells the story of a Filipino woman who worked in the Kingdom for 20 years and has to return home to take care of her sick sister. Divided between her reluctance to leave the country she has grown to love and her duty to take care of her sister, she came up with the song. It can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRYAu2c7og.

Some Saudis who saw the clip told Arab News that they were very impressed and moved.

Majid Al-Hokair, a prominent tourism promoter and deputy chairman of Al-Hokair Group for Tourism and Development, found the clip very moving and said that it brought tears to his eyes.

“We see how deeply our guest workers feel toward our country. This makes us very grateful for their feelings, commitment, and contributions to building our country along with us,” he said.

Omar Al-Jasir, director of Culture and Arts Society in Jeddah, said the clip was very emotional. “The song tells us that our real home may not be the one in which we are born but the one in which we live meaningfully with people, friends and places.”

According to the Filipino MENSAHERO News online magazine, the original song was written by J. Nava Cruz, an OFW freelance writer/author in the Philippines and was meant to be dedicated to Saudi Arabia, but the clip was made by a group of overseas Filipino professionals who live in the Kingdom.

The group includes Teofilo “Jojo” Bitoon, musical arranger, Peter John Tan, sound engineer, Marvin Domalaon, video editor, Filipino student Filxygmir Moneva, singer/song interpreter and Rodel Menda, director.