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Living overseas

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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Help I'm really struggling.

125 replies

mamaplusbabies · 15/01/2015 06:13

I recently moved to a very poor country where my husband comes from and it's been a complete disaster.

Our flat is ok, good standard but we have no money and my parents in law are taking over my life and my children.

Children are beaten here and I don't like this but no one seems to care what I think or feel.

We don't have a lot of food and what we are eating / drinking is making us ill as we have constant diarreah and nausea. Today we don't have any more drinking water so I have had to boil the tap water and we are drinking that. I don't have a car or any money so I can't go out. We have 3 eggs left and that's it. My husband has gone out to look for money. I have no more nappies for the baby.

I feel such a fool as I've given up an OK life in the UK for this - being promised it would be for the best.

I haven't seen my 4 year old since yesterday afternoon I think he is with my sister in law.

I just hate it here and I really don't know how I can get out. I don't have any family of my own to talk to and I just keep bursting into tears every 5 minutes!

OP posts:
Pipbin · 17/01/2015 15:45

Could you be entitled to a place in a refuge?
There must be charities out there that help women in your situation. This is not the first time any of us have heard this story.

Pipbin · 17/01/2015 16:01

Here is a charity that might help with accommodation when you get here. www.ashaprojects.org.uk

mamaplusbabies · 17/01/2015 17:11

Hadn't considered a Refuge - that's a good idea - I'd feel a bit of a con though as he wouldn't exactly be chasing me as he wouldn't know where I was.

That one in the link seems to be more for women of South-Asian origin, I'll try and google some more tomo.

I was also thinking I would like to change the children's surname as they are very identifiable by their name. Is that a mission? Presumably their birth certificate will always remain but could get new passports? Start school with new name...?

OP posts:
SolomanDaisy · 17/01/2015 18:02

I think you're thinking too far ahead at the minute. You need to plan to get out of SA, for which you will almost certainly need his permission, then you can think about things like name changes later. How are you going to do that? Are you worried that if you return to the UK he will follow and attempt to take the children back to SA?

rootypig · 17/01/2015 18:44

Agree with Soloman. mama I know too well the temptation of imagining how things will be once you get away - and I know also that it's important to feel optimistic. But you must focus on the task of getting out of the country. Once back in the UK, you can speak to DWP and work out how to subsist. Now you need to contact the consulate. Please do not bury your head in the sand.

afussyphase · 17/01/2015 21:40

Totally off the wall but you could consider writing about your experiences and turning it all into a bestseller, or anyway a book, when you get back!

Pipbin · 17/01/2015 22:17

Could you contact the local paper of your home town?

rootypig · 19/01/2015 03:30

What do you think they could do Pip?

I've composed and deleted a couple responses to the last few posts on this thread, which (politely speaking) have left me openmouthed with their irresponsible naivete.

mama, if you are for real, please take this with the utmost seriousness. It is by no means clear that you will be able to leave Saudi Arabia, let alone with your children.

Justputyourshoesonnow · 19/01/2015 04:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HelloItsStillMeFell · 19/01/2015 05:26

Pipbin what to you imagine they can do about it? Confused

I totally agree rooty the likelihood of her getting out any time soon is so slim it's better that the OP tries to integrate, accept her choices and make the best of it, at least for the time being. Playing the long game is the only choice she has.

Look, unless the OP is being beaten and abused by her husband and his family she doesn't have much of a case to ask for anything from anyone, certainly not the Saudi authorities and the British consulate won't be terribly interested either. They'll be too busy dealing with Brits imprisoned there on trumped up charges and the like.

mama and her H skipped the UK to leave behind a trail of of debt. She is married to a Saudi man and has run away to Saudi, where she (understandably and perhaps not unreasonably) is expected to live like any other woman married to a Saudi man, observing Saudi societal norms, because she's in Saudi. Confused She chose to go, she wasn't kidnapped or forced. Her H was going to leave her and abandon the children and she chose to follow him and take her chances rather than face the music at home and now she's bleating that she doesn't like it, after a few months. I'm really sorry to be harsh but that the old cliche 'you made your bed, now you'll have to lie in it' springs to mind. Sad

Yes it's a very different way of life but nothing that she could not reasonably have expected given that she's been with this man for 8 years and presumably has read/heard a fair bit about what to expect when she got there. She doesn't speak much Arabic and has no friends yet so it is going to be hard for a while. The only way to make it better is to try to embrace it with every bit of positivity she can muster. There is no other choice at the moment.

mama I'm struggling to understand whether you want to be away from your husband or whether you just want to be away from SA and your in-laws, and the depressing lack of money and familiar home comforts.

I'm not quite sure whether you are avoiding admitting that he is controlling, abusive and oppressive towards you, (you have been rather vague and evasive on that so far, with lots of alluding to abuse but nothing specific) because you are embarrassed to admit that you went with him in spite of it, or whether you want to give the impression that he's abusive in the hope that it will provide you with an easier route out, and more help once you get home. The truth is that sadly no-one is going to be sending a rescue party either way. But if and when you do get home, you have young children so you will be entitled to housing regardless of your background and circumstances.

You said 'they' hit your son if he annoys them, but I'm not quite sure whether 'they' includes your husband or if he is just turning a blind eye to his relatives doing it. You need to be more assertive about making sure that your son does not get taken off for hours without you. Insist that you go where he goes and if he needs telling off you make sure you get in first and handle things your way - don't just allow other people to muscle in and undermine you.

Another thing that has not yet been answered is have you actually told your H that you are unhappy and regret moving, and what has been his response? Does he act lovingly towards you still, and does he even care that you seem unhappy? Obviously you need to be very careful about how you broach this, but what is your gut feeling about him now?

PLEASE just don't get pregnant again. Just don't. I'm not sure about SA but where I am in the ME we can buy the pill over the counter for about £5 per month. If you can get enough privacy and access to enough money to be able to buy it then DO. It will be £5 per month well spent no matter how broke you are. And if you could persuade your H to let you take it 'until you get back on your feet financially' then so much the better.

If the pill is really not an option then the pharmacies here do a HUGE range of vaginal douches with vinegar in them……sort of like an old fashioned version of the morning after pill.

afussyphase · 19/01/2015 13:37

HelloItsStill, not sure if you were critiquing my little comment - I was somewhat facetious, and somewhat also commenting from the assumptions you outline: the OP's situation sounds bad, but from what we know she and her DC are not being abused and it seems that in the long term she will hopefully make friends, live in SA for a time and hopefully return to the UK. I would buy the novel; I think the issue of life in SA for women, the interface of mainstream Western cultures with Islam, and the story if written from the angle that someone like the OP moved there not quite knowing what she was getting into and had to do x, y, z to eventually return is very potent culturally, and it would sell and sell. So not joking there. Also, writing has helped me when I have felt trapped and alone.
Hope you're OK, OP, and weren't offended by my comment.

Timetoask · 19/01/2015 14:42

I cannot understand, how knowing what that culture is like, women still get trapped into going abroad to countries where they have no rights.
I would not marry a muslim even if my life depended on it.

HelloItsStillMeFell · 19/01/2015 17:44

I would not marry a muslim even if my life depended on it.

I don't think I would either Time, at least not one who had strong family connections/citizenship in an Islamic state and I say that as someone living in a Muslim country so I think I have a pretty balanced view of Islam and Muslim men generally, although no first hand personal experience.

I might take a leap and have children with a Muslim man, but only on the condition that I would not marry him, or if I did I would NEVER visit an Islamic state with him, he would not appear on the birth certificate of our children, he would have to accept that I would never give him permission to take the children out of the country without me and/or or whatever else I deemed necessary to protect myself and my future family. And to be honest if you need to lay out conditions like that before you commit to someone them it's doomed before you've even started. Sad

I realise it sounds paranoid and narrow minded but it's just not worth the risk to put your trust in the belief that things will never go wrong, if the price you pay is that you lose your children and/or your freedom.

rootypig · 19/01/2015 21:26

It's not just about Islam or the ME, though the conditions for women in SA are abominable. International law prohibits the free movement of minors across international borders for good reason. The fact is, if OP agreed to move to any number of other countries with her DC, and then in a custody dispute wanted to remove them from that country without the other parent's permission, she could not. Those countries include much of the so-called developed world. (I'm talking about the Hague Convention on Child Abduction.)

Want2bSupermum · 19/01/2015 23:23

OP - I would def communicate with the British Consulate that you are in the country and are not happy. Tell them you are looking to return home with your DC but in the meantime need some help learning arabic and would love if they could put you in contact with someone who has been in your position who made it work.

As for marrying a muslim - I wouldn't consider anyone from the middle east, Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Those men are not marriage material on the whole. I know two Lebanese guys both of which are Christian and have very abnormal ideas on the role of women in Western society. Actually one of the reasons I want to leave my job is because I keep working under men from this part of the world. As a working mother I don't stand a chance. I am everything they hate.

Coyoacan · 20/01/2015 01:48

I think we are talking about different cultures, rather than religions. We sometimes, underestimate the difference a culture will make in a relationship.

I'm afraid, OP, the other posters are right, you cannot leave the country with the children without their father's permission. Have you talked to him about your home-sickness?

Otherwise, the best thing is for you to learn Arabic and make the most of it.

ChippingInLatteLover · 20/01/2015 02:17

This thread really isn't the place to debate who you would or wouldn't marry and where you wouldn't go.

The OP needs help, not to be made to feel foolish.

MN helped another woman get back to the uk with her children, I'm sure MN can help you too.

If you need a bit if escapism, think about how your life back here could be, but please don't worry about it. Once you are back here you are safe and can be looked after by a number of charities, MNers, whatever.

Focus on how to get the fuck out of there with your children. Whilst doing that 'play nice' and encourage your son to do the same. Do Not be tempted to tell your son of your plans! it's not fair on him to have to be that responsible for this secret. Just keep telling him if you both behave then life there will be good.

Stay strong.

AlpacaMyBags · 20/01/2015 02:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LuxuryTrifle · 20/01/2015 03:51

OP I have no expertise but I just wanted to say OMG what a heartbreaking position - I am appalled at the SA legal like on needing permission to leave with children even if have custody etc. The sexism of SA is just astonishing - I had no idea it was that dreadful, though I knew it was dire.

Lots of other more knowledgeable posters have advised the long game, playing happy,earnings ARabic, and planning exit. They sound wise but I admit my heart quails at the effort that will take - weeks or months of self restraint - and I wanted to send you support and respect.

I also really hope your kids aren't taken away for unspecified spans of time again either - I truly sympathised with your distress over wanting your son back and your helplessness.

I really hope MN experts can help you find a way to return to UK with your kids

mamaplusbabies · 20/01/2015 10:52

My husband has been away for a few days and still not back. The inlaws a have been bringing us food though.

I am hoping to sit down and talk to him again tonight....

Thanks to everyone for the positives. I realise I have got myself into this mess and I am just asking for some moral support since I don't know anyone here, I know I have been stupid. Please don't think I am not kicking myself every single day for my foolishness. Believe me though, my husband has become a stranger almost overnight. He is not the man I married and the longer we stay, the worse it gets.

I am just going to sit tight for now and try to protect my children.

OP posts:
Coyoacan · 20/01/2015 13:44

I believe you, mama. Good luck with the talk.

Laptopwieldingharpy · 20/01/2015 14:18

Keep steady mama. You sound so so grounded despite your circumstances, I admire your calm. You need to remain very focused on your goal for a long time so try and fit in/ befriend you in laws & and learn the language. You will need to use every single bit of understanding you have to identify a way out.

I think your husband may possibly feel just as trapped as you and humiliated if he can't provide so he shut down? Or is the change so dramatic that you are scarred?

rootypig · 20/01/2015 21:52

Oh mama, it sounds as though you were under a lot of pressure. Protect your children, protect yourself, and DO let the embassy know that you are in the country at least. It is standard practice for them to keep a list of British nationals in their jurisdiction.

Branleuse · 31/01/2015 21:24

you need to act loved up, lovey dovey with your husband and try and get him at some point to agree to go back to the UK with you without suspecting anything. Might not be a quick process but even in a year or whatever. You cant do anything else from saudi without him onside.
Think long term. Youve made a mistake, but dont panic or run away. You wont get anywhere

WooltonPie · 31/01/2015 21:50

Bran is 1000% wise. Go as slowly as you can bear and then a bit slower.

What information would help you OP? Anything we can research and post here?

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