For more than two weeks now, a young Filipino mother deserted by her Turkish husband has encamped outside the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah with her two children, waiting for their deportation to Manila. “It is too difficult to stay in an open area during the hot weather here. I am a divorced mother and have been waiting to be deported since two weeks go,” said Angelina in an interview with the Saudi Gazette last week. “I was in Riyadh when I met my former husband. But he divorced me after four years of marriage as he could not take the responsibility of a family man because of financial difficulties,” said Angelina who tried to avoid naming her former husband. Angelina said she was working as a housemaid in Riyadh when she met the Turk and decided to run away from her sponsor “to marry the Turkish man with whom I fell in love.” She vaguely left unanswered the question on how she was able to marry the Turk, being an absconder, but she said she had drifted from one odd job to another since she ran away and could not renew her iqama. Angelina is among the hundreds of Filipino maids who ran away from - or were deserted by - their sponsors and have to live illegally in Saudi Arabia. Tired of living illegally in Riyadh and concerned about the future of her children, she moved to Jeddah about three months ago with high hopes that the consulate would send them home. “I decided to travel from Riyadh to Jeddah believing that I could easily be deported here. I worked in Jeddah for two months as a housemaid, “ she said. “I have taken the responsibility of bringing up my two children. This has become a double-trouble for me as a single mother with no legal status in the Kingdom,” she rued. Angelina and her children – 4-year-old Norya and 2-year-old Fateh - live with 70 other illegal Filipino overstayers, many of whom have encamped outside the Philippine Consulate General in Al-Rehab district much longer. “I have been in this situation for two weeks now. What am I suppose to do? I have to wait until I could be sent home with my children,” said Angelina under a blue tent bought by sympathetic Filipinos to protect her children from the sun. “Living here is difficult. It's unhygienic. This place is full of mosquitoes. My children Norya and Fateh have suffered skin problems,” she said. Being a Muslim who respects the labor laws of the host country, she did not like working in the Kingdom as an illegal resident. “It was my mistake to trust the person I have loved but who deserted me to bear the responsibility of bringing up our children,” she rued. Vicente M. Cabe, a labor attaché attached to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office at the Philippine Consulate General, said the consulate officials have sought the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after taking the personal data of the workers seeking deportation. “Their information has been sent to the ministry so that they could be deported as soon as possible,” he said. The Filipinos, he explained, came to the Kingdom legally but were unfortunate to meet their tragic fate. “They don't have any place to live, so they decided to stay near the consulate to seek help. We have contacted the Passports Department in Jeddah and asked them to provide a place for the workers. But they told us that they do not have place to keep them,” he said. Under the circumstance, Cabe said, the consulate has sent a request to Manila for funds so it could rent a place where the workers and their families could stay until they are sent home. Angelina said some Saudi mothers have visited the camp and provided milk and diapers for babies in addition to meals and water. “I am thankful to God who sent those kind Saudi people to stand by their Filipino brothers and sisters during their need,” she said. “I am praying to God either to be sent home or to be sponsored again by any Saudi family so we could live with dignity while I prepare a future for my children,” she said.
