UAE Helping Hands: Homeless family seek help

Former self-made millionaires, the unemployed Bahrainis, both on the run from authorities, have no roof over their heads and cannot feed themselves or their families.

Former millionaire Mohammed Abdelrazak has been living in this trailer with his wife and six children for months after being evicted from their home. Reem Mohammed / The National

DUBAI // From living in spacious villas to a pair of cramped tents, two brothers who have fallen on hard times are appealing for help.

The unemployed Bahrainis, former self-made millionaires and both on the run from authorities, have no permanent roof over their heads and cannot feed themselves or their families.

Adding to their worries, both families are forced to sleep in vans, on weekdays, due to their unorthodox living arrangements.

“You need a permit to camp in the desert,” says 39-year-old Mohammed Abdelrazak, whose family, along with that of his elder brother Fuad, has been living rough for the past week.

“They [police] usually don’t check on weekends or during the day, so we stay in the desert on the weekends or just for short periods of time.”

With Mohammed are his wife and their six children, ranging from ages three to 16. All have spent the last week in fear of their mobile home being impounded because of legal issues.

The brothers, who were born and raised in the emirate, say things went downhill for them in the economic crisis of 2012.

“It all started going down,” says Fuad, who had owned several businesses. “There was no demand, no one was buying. I couldn’t cover costs, couldn’t pay my employees. At one point, I had 12 employees file a case against me on the same day at the Ministry of Labour.”

The brothers now have warrants out for their arrests, over unpaid debts.

However, despite wanting to clear their names, neither has been able to secure work.

“I know that a job might not help me pay off such a large debt but life goes on,” says Fuad, who owes Dh5 million in loans, rent and for two court cases.

“I cannot just sit and do nothing. I have to do my best.”

Despite Fuad’s debt, the financial issues claimed their first victim in Mohammed, who was forced to move his family into his brother’s home after he was unable to cover rent.

Several days later, both families were out on the street.

“We are now both homeless and have nowhere to go,” says 44-year-old Fuad, a father of four.

In an attempt to recoup some of their losses, the brothers took to selling their possessions.

Last week, their last piece of furniture went to a new home.

“Our wives sold their jewellery and our children sold all their clothes and toys,” Fuad says.

The situation has hit the children the most, the brothers say.

Although their Emirati passports grant them education at public schools and health care, the benefits ends there.

“Thankfully the school gives them free lunch,” Mohammed says.

To get by, the families receive food from local charities.

Although they are supported in this regard, Umm Gaith, Mohammed’s wife, says it has been a hard reality to accept.

“The charities give us legumes and rice. We are grateful but because the children are young they don’t understand why this is the only option they have,” she says.

“Once we had everything. We had food, a house and we could afford to get them what they wanted.”

For Fuad’s family the reality of their situation has had a ripple effect in being unable to send his children to university.

“I’ve applied for a job for him [the eldest]. Before I was sure that my son would be a doctor or an engineer,” he says.

“Now it’s an impossible dream.”

But the younger members of the families still hold strong dreams of better lives, despite their situation.

At the weekends, when they are consigned to their tents, the children run out and look to the sky when the rain falls, says Umm Abdulla, Fuad’s wife.

“They tell me, ‘Mama, mama. We prayed that God gives dad money and that we have a house again. It is raining. He will answer our prayers’.”

Now it has come down to the community to lend their support, says Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of social services at Dar Al Ber Society.

“These men deserve a second chance for their families. They are homeless and desperate. We hope that the community can reach out to help them.”