A Mother’s Cry
I would like to send my sincere thanks to the Bahraini Women’s Society and the other women’s societies in Bahrain for their efforts to help Bahraini women get their rights. They have brought up a very important problem which we are facing being wives of foreigners.
Every person has the right to choose whom he or she wants to marry. So, we chose our life partners too. Now we are facing lots of problems in our day-to-day life. We want to go to the health center and not have to pay like foreigners to get treatment for our children and husbands. Education and work are also beyond our reach without citizenship rights.
Even for traveling to any Gulf Coast country, we have to get visas for my husband and children. Even to perform the Umrah, we have to have a visa. As a Bahraini wife I cannot sponsor my husband and child. They both should be sponsored by the company where my husband is working. The Saudi Embassy refused to give me a visa. The case is different for a Bahraini husband. He can get a free visa for his foreign wife, children and even maid. How disgusting! A maid is in a better state than the foreign husbands and children of Bahraini wives.
Where are women’s rights? We can’t have citizenship for our husbands and children. We can’t easily get visas for our family to travel with us. How can we bear the expenses associated with applying for a visa when everyone knows how much we earn?
My child’s visa will end in one year’s time, any my husband’s office is now not giving visas for families. Now you can see my other worry. I don’t know what will happen if I can’t get the permit for my son. I can’t let him go alone out of Bahrain. Can anyone tell me what will happen to my two year-old child when his visa won’t be renewed? Can anyone feel the mother’s pain here? Shall I send him anywhere alone or shall I pack my bag and leave my country because my country is failing to take care of me. Bahrain is failing to help its daughter. Now I have to think a million times before planning to have a second child.
Non-Bahraini women get married to a Bahraini man and get all the rights of Bahrainis for herself and her children. But we can’t give any of our rights to our children. Our children will be raised with the feeling of injustice. They may not be liked by their friends or cousins. Can you imagine what will be the mental effect on them when they will be stopped from doing this or that just because they are not Bahrainis like their cousins or friends?
Isn’t it so unfair what you are doing to your own daughters? Don’t ask why we got married to a certain man. It’s our right to marry who we love.
Entry Filed under: Countries, Bahrain, Testimonies