Friday, Jul 20, 2007

Manama: The two-day hunger strike of a homeless Bahraini female, Safiya Ahmad, didn't help her win officials' sympathy but contributed to her deteriorating health, her nephew Hussain Khalaf said.

Safiya started a protest near the Ministry of Works and Housing three weeks back to ask the government for a solution to her problem and was admitted to hospital on Tuesday because of heatstroke and bleeding as a result of uterus complications. "I don't know if I can go back to protest near the ministry again as I feel very weak and shocked by the cold response of the government," Safiya said.

Safiya is a divorcee with a ten-year-old daughter Mariam and receives only 50 Bahraini dinars (about Dh500) monthly alimony from her ex-husband.

Her health problems forced her to leave her job at a private company. "My parents are dead and I sold my share of their house to rent a flat and, when I finished my money, I started moving from one relative to another," Safiya explained. "The new academic year will start and I don't know which school I should enrol my daughter in since we don't have a home."

Custody

According to Bahraini law, ex-husbands should provide accommodation to their wives and children, but to settle the court dispute fast, Safiya gave up all her rights to win full custody of her daughter.

"I'm concerned about the psychological well-being of Mariam as she always asks why we are the only mother and daughter without a place to call home and I don't have an answer for her," she said.

"I'm only demanding my constitutional right to a decent home to lead an ordinary life with my daughter," she said.

The Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Works and Housing, Adnan Al Shaikh, said in an official statement that the ministry couldn't help Safiya and housing would be given to her according to the seniority of her application. He said that accepting her plea only because she started a protest would jeopardise the rights of others who had been waiting for years.

A shortage of houses is a major problem in Bahrain since there are around 40,000 families waiting for housing according to statistics released during the last election in November 2006. The government provides homes and purchasing or construction loans for citizens. Families repay by paying a monthly quarter of their income for 25 years.

The writer is a journalist based in Manama.

Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.