A Kuwaiti Wedding for the Maid and Driver

The newlyweds beam from their wedding cake.

KUWAIT TIMES: A Kuwaiti family held a wedding for their newly married household helpers! The driver and the maid, both Asians, had fallen in love and wanted to marry. Unlike the typical reaction by many families, who would deny this request of marriage or any kind of passionate relationship among the household employees, this family agreed to bless the marriage and even held a wedding in one local ballrooms at their expense to express their happiness and good wishes for the newly married couple.

When this news came to the media, it was a matter of a few laughs and good comments because it is not every day you witness things like that here! Why is that? Because we are familiar with news of crimes, suicides, runaways and abuse. In my long experience covering many stories about maids in Kuwait, this incident is only the second I have heard of in ten years.

Now, maybe there have been some marriages of the same that have occurred among domestic workers, but not with a wedding and pictures taken. That is really something new, although it is very appreciative and a great gesture of kindness and sympathy by this Kuwaiti family. It is very common that families, Kuwaitis or not, do not welcome relationships among their employees out of fear that sex will lead to pregnancy of the maid and troubles for the family and the workers in front of the law. That can be understood, but also it should not be a reason for any family to deny marriage proposals by their workers.

Like any workplace, passionate relations are not encouraged in the house and in fact it is not the right place for ethical reasons. A domestic worker, a maid or a driver or anyone else, is expected to do a job which they get paid for and not to practice a romance. Yet, a romance with good and honest intentions can occur in any place, at work or outside, maid or a driver.

For our newly married couple here today, the ending was happy and with a ballroom and a band. Both were thrilled to see their sponsor helping them to fulfill their dream and give them the chance to enjoy their big day. Happy wishes to the new couple!

By Muna Al-Fuzai


LWDLIK - That's got to be the sweetest thing I've heard in a while. After reading the newspaper headlines and thinking we we're being plunged into the 15th century - this was a breath of fresh air.