By DIANA AL-JASSEM | ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: Expatriates considering visiting their home country for a vacation, have reported facing substantial financial claims. Relatives would ask for luxury gifts and money, steering the expatriates toward financial difficulty.

Such requests are quite well-known among expatriates from different social levels and backgrounds. Electronics, clothes, perfumes and jewelry are in high demand. The relatives and friends seem to not give the financial situation of the expatriate much consideration and just want to take as much as they can.

“When we go home for a vacation, our relatives become a big problem. They think we have lots of money and we won’t know where to spend it. Directly and indirectly they will ask for it,” said Hanan Riyad, an Egyptian woman who has been living in Jeddah for twenty years.

She added, “One time, we arrived in our apartment in Cairo and my husband’s brother came to stay with us for the whole vacation. He brought his daughters and sons along and made sure they could all share our food, get more gifts, and take part in our picnics and journeys to a summer resort.”

According to Hanan, her brother-in-law also encouraged his wife to take as many of Hanan’s suitcases as she could. “They took our own luggage when we went to a resort, leaving us without bags or suitcases. Such behavior forced me to put my daughters clothes in plastic bags,” she said.

Rima Abu-Karam, a Jordanian housewife, has been living in Jeddah for thirty years. She complained about her mother-in-law, who likes to borrow items from her home, but does not return them.

“My husband’s mother would regularly come to my house in Amman to clean and check the condition of the home. Unfortunately, every summer vacation I discovered that much of my stuff had disappeared. When I asked her, she said she needs these things and cannot find them herself in malls,” said Rima.

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