Manama: A mother and son were reunited in Saudi Arabia after 36 years apart, thanks to a mobile application.
The mother, a Yemeni national in her 50s who lives in the southern Saudi city of Jazan, reportedly got married to a Saudi national when she was 15 years old.
She moved with him to a village near Madinah in western Saudi Arabia where they had their only son, her brother said in remarks published by local news site Sabq on Thursday.
However, seven years after their marriage the couple separated, and the woman moved back to Jazan. Her husband kept their three-year-old son with him.
“My sister eventually got married with another man and they had children,” the brother said. “For years she tried to locate her son from her first marriage, but her efforts were not successful and she knew nothing about her first son for around 36 years,” he added.
A relative one day offered to help and asked for my nephew’s full name, he said.
“He used the Number Book application on his mobile and he came up with a number. I called the number and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the man who answered my call was my sister’s son whom she has been trying to locate for 36 years. He told me that he too had been trying to find his mother for years.”
A meeting between the mother and son was arranged and the reunion took place in Jazan.
“It was highly emotional reunion in which and tears of sweet joy mixed with tears of bitter sorrow over the lost years,” the brother said.
