December 11th, 2025 - A Mother's Struggle to Reunite with Her Daughter in Saudi Arabia

Edith Ingasiani’s labor began at the break of dawn on January 20, 2016, as the sun rose over Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A Kenyan immigrant working as a housekeeper for a middle-class family, Edith had hidden her pregnancy under loose robes, aware that an unmarried woman could face severe legal consequences if discovered pregnant in the kingdom. Despite her friends urging her to seek an illegal abortion, Edith chose to keep the child, naming her Blessings. The child became her last connection to a man she had loved and lost in a tragic car accident the previous year.

Edith, like many women from Kenya, had left her family behind in pursuit of a better life in Saudi Arabia. She had hoped to save money for a modest life back home, but her reality in Saudi Arabia was far from what she imagined. As a live-in housekeeper, she faced exploitation, non-payment of wages, and a lack of legal protection. The birth of Blessings, however, changed Edith’s outlook. She hoped to return to Kenya with her daughter, build a home, and provide a better future, but the absence of a birth certificate for Blessings made this nearly impossible.

The Saudi government does not allow unmarried mothers to register their children’s births, and without documentation, neither Edith nor Blessings could travel. Edith’s attempts to seek assistance from the Kenyan embassy proved fruitless, as officials demanded the proper paperwork for Blessings, which was unattainable due to the lack of a birth certificate. Edith’s situation grew more desperate as she was unable to secure her daughter’s exit documents, despite spending years trying to navigate the bureaucratic maze.

As she faced repeated rejection from the embassy and legal hurdles, Edith became determined to return to Kenya. She tried various tactics, even risking deportation by telling taxi drivers to slow down at checkpoints, hoping to be caught and deported with her child. But this plan failed, and she found herself stranded in Riyadh, living in constant uncertainty. Meanwhile, her savings dwindled, and she relied on friends for shelter and support. Despite all this, Edith continued to hope that one day, she would be reunited with her family in Kenya.

In 2023, after years of struggle, the Kenyan government offered a glimmer of hope by arranging DNA tests to prove maternity for women like Edith, who were stuck in Saudi Arabia without proper documentation. Although the tests were delayed, Edith eventually received a birth certificate for Blessings after paying a fee, but they still couldn’t leave until other paperwork was completed. Finally, in May 2023, after years of waiting and hardship, Edith and Blessings were granted permission to leave Saudi Arabia.

Upon arriving in Kenya, Edith and Blessings were filled with mixed emotions. They had made it back home, but Edith had little to show for her years of hard work in Saudi Arabia. The land she had purchased for a house had been taken away due to unpaid payments, and she had almost no savings left. They returned to a modest home with few resources, but Edith remained determined to make a new life for herself and her daughter. As Blessings started school and made friends, Edith found herself grappling with the difficult reality of their situation but remained hopeful for the future. The hardship had been immense, but they were together, and that was all that mattered.

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster) - Leviathan (noun, luh-VYE-uh-thun) - Leviathan is a word with literary flair that can refer broadly to something very large and powerful, or more narrowly to a large sea animal, or a totalitarian state having a vast bureaucracy.

Example: Towering leviathans of the forest, giant sequoias often reach heights of more than 200 feet.

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