A woman from Kenya has opened up about a painful family betrayal that left her and her mother estranged, revealing the suffering her children endured while she worked abroad. The mother of two traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2022 to earn a living and support her family, leaving her children under the care of her own mother. She regularly sent money home to ensure their needs were met, but what she found upon her recent return was devastating.
“When I landed and saw my kids, I just cried. They looked so miserable,” she said. She explained that her mother, tasked with looking after the children, had stopped preparing meals for them and sometimes forced them to sleep outside in the cold. In addition, the woman discovered that her mother had developed an unusually close relationship with her husband, having private conversations behind her back. Shockingly, her mother also misappropriated over KSh 200,000 from her bank account, leaving her with no savings.
The woman had previously purchased a plot of land and started a hotel business for her mother, expecting her to care for the children responsibly. Instead, her mother turned to alcohol and continued to mistreat them. “She stopped cooking for the kids, and sometimes they would sleep outside in the cold,” the distraught mother recounted. She added that, for her own peace of mind, she wants nothing to do with her mother for the foreseeable future.
The woman’s decision to return home early from Saudi Arabia was driven by necessity, as paying someone else to care for the children proved too expensive. She is now committed to providing her children with the love, support, and stability they were denied. Her story highlights the challenges Kenyan families face when parents work abroad and underscores the importance of ensuring children’s safety and well-being, even in the absence of their parents.
By Newshub