Manama: A Bahraini family has offered to pay the marriage expenses of their domestic helper in recognition of compassion and service.
The offer was made when the helper who has been with the family for 10 years informed them that a Bahraini man wanted to marry her and sought their approval.
The head of the family agreed and told the helper that they would pay for the marriage ceremony.
The family also sent out invitations to relatives and to the helpers’ friends to the ceremony and to the dinner they hosted as part of the celebrations, Bahraini daily Al Ayam reported on Saturday.
“It was generous of the family to contribute to the joy of the expatriate woman to get married and to put on the much-coveted white wedding dress,” one guest said.
The helper, grateful to the family, said that she would continue to work for them six days a week.
Despite some negative reports about the mistreatment of foreign helpers, Gulf families often express their gratitude and acknowledge their appreciation in several ways.
In December 2016, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa became a sensation on social media when he visited his nanny of nearly six decades ago in her home in India and posted a picture with her on his Twitter account.
Carmine Mathias, a nonagenarian, went to Bahrain in January 1959 and looked after Shaikh Khalid and his three siblings.
