Identity crisis: Divorcee chasing on-the-run hubby to register 6 kids

A divorced mother in her 60s has been shuttling between five cities in the Kingdom hunting down her former husband who refused to register six of their 14 sons and daughters at the civil registration department.
The mother, nicknamed Om Miteb, who is leading a life of hardship making ends meet, expressed her fear of dying before ensuring the wellbeing of her children who, she said, have neither been educated like the rest of their peers nor have any cards to prove their identity, Al-Watan Daily reported.
She said her sons and daughters are jobless and live miserably in a two-room rented house and are being threatened with eviction for failure to pay rent amounting to SR20,000.
The mother said she had remained with her former husband for 40 years and that during that time, she had repeatedly insisted on registering her sons and daughters, whose father refused to register them under his identity.
She submitted a number of petitions in Riyadh, Jeddah and Jazan to consider the issue, but her letters were always cast aside, she said.
Her husband used to flee their marital home to visit Jeddah, Riyadh, Najran, Jazan, and Taif, which had gravely affected the rights of her children, she said.
When she failed to provide food for her children, she was forced to work at houses and wedding halls. She asked for a divorce 10 years ago based on a request submitted to the Riyadh Court of Marriages.
She says she never receives any assistance from social security or charity organizations and has been both a mother and father-figure to her children over the past 40 years. When she fell ill and succumbed to fatigue, she became more anxious than ever to see her children registered with social security, where they could get a monthly salary sufficient to meet their requirements, she said.
“If my former husband dies, my children will suffer the loss of their national identity, which might have allowed them to live a normal life like other children in the Kingdom,” she said.
She expressed hope that government bodies and philanthropists would help her make rent and other expenses.