Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Seventy-year-old Yousif Al-Ramadan lives under the open sky – not by choice but out of compulsion. The wrinkles on Al-Ramadan's face tell a story of a long life filled with great joys and sorrows. Born in 1942, the septuagenarian who was abandoned by his family has lived to see the reign of six Saudi monarchs including the Kingdom's founder, King Abdul Aziz. Struggling to fight back tears, Al-Ramadan recounted his story to Al-Yaum Arabic newspaper from his home near an abandoned car on the Riyadh-Ahsa Road. “I do not know why my own children kicked me out of my house and left me homeless. How can they do this to their father who suffered and struggled to raise them? This is the thanks they gave me,” said Al-Ramadan. Wearing ripped clothes and a dirty shumagh, Al-Ramadan used a stick to prop himself up on the piece of cardboard he uses as a bed. He said he had five children and that his wife had brainwashed and forced them to kick him out of the house for “unknown reasons.” “When none of my relatives or friends were willing to accept me in their homes, I had no choice but to move here,” he said. “I have been in this desolate place for more than a month. I come here at night, and take a refuge from the sun's heat inside a nearby mosque during the day.” Al-Ramadan claimed he had nothing to eat and survived on handouts and at times even resorted to eating wild grass. “When bystanders and passersby do not help me with money or food, I search for anything to eat – be it grass or scraps of food in the garbage.” Despite his situation and his children's disobedience, Al-Ramadan said he does not desire anything except God's protection. “I do not want to go to the police or a court; I do not want to cause harm to my children despite what they have done to me,” he said.
