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Woman with three kids looks for her husband

Sakina, who hails from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, came to the UAE 20 years ago to get married to an Omani national, A.J., who was a resident of the UAE. “I married him 20 years ago in Umm Al Quwain after being brought here. My would-be husband had come to my home in Hyderabad and arranged for my journey to UAE for marriage here. Later, he got my nationality changed and I became Omani national,” says Sakina.

At the time of marriage Sakina was just 15 years old and Al Balouchi was 48.

According to Sakina, her husband vanished with her passport and documents six months ago and she has no information about his whereabouts.

“We used to live in a residential villa in the Hamriya area. But after he left us, the landlord evicted us as we could not pay the rent. Since then I have been spending most of my time in Hamriya Park with my three children — five-year-old Mohammed Abdul Rahman, three-year-old Zainab and one-and-half-year-old Sara,” she adds.

“My husband used to work as a driver here. He has another wife and seven children. I did not know about it until the birth of my first child. I do not know where he is now,” she says.

“A Pakistani family, also staying in the Hamriya area, gave us a place to sleep but we don’t have any means to survive. Every morning I come to the park with my kids. Some good samaritans give us food and clothes sometimes. That’s how we’re surviving,” she says. A security guard in Hamriya Park said, “This woman with her three kids comes every morning to the park. They stay here until the park closes. Some visitors in the park give her food and money.”

• UAE