Mom with six children lives in shaky house

Umm Rashid of the UAE lives in permanent fear with her six little children as the old house that shelters them in the eastern oasis town of Al-Ain has become shaky and could collapse at any time.

The woman lives on her dead husband’s pension of Dh18,000 a month but she says most of the money is spent on her kids. Although the family is now in danger, Umm Rashid’s repeated pleas on the government to grant her a new house have fallen on deaf ears.

“A report by Al Ain municipality engineers warned that the house is in danger of collapsing on the heads of its inhabitants at any time,” the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum said.

“There is an imminent danger on the family…engineers have examined the house and found that parts of it could fall on its inhabitants.”

Umm Rashid told the paper she had “knocked all official doors” but no one wanted to help her. “I will remain a prisoner of fear and anxiety until I receive help…the house is no longer fit for living as it has many cracks and water leaks into it every time…the cracks have become so big that we can see the sun through them…this is making us very tense all the time.”

Umm Rashid said Al-Ain electricity and water distribution company had just rejected her request to carry out maintenance and repair work in the house on the grounds it no longer safe for living.

“I only pray to God that officials will realize my ordeal and help me in getting proper housing to protect my children before it is too late,” she said. “I no longer know what to do in such conditions…I am unable to find any one who could help me and my children…my life and my children’s lives are in real danger.”

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