After 40 years in Saudi, Pakistani man finds home in homeland

ISLAMABAD: After four decades abroad, working hard to sustain his family, Muhammad Hafeez returned to Pakistan on Wednesday to finally reunite with wife and children, and to never leave them again.
Hafeez spent 40 years in Saudi Arabia, being one of over a million Pakistanis who live in the Kingdom to earn better money and send remittances back home.
“I can’t express my happiness that I am back with my family,” he told Arab News and said that although he “deeply honors Saudi Arabia” and will be missing the holy sites of Muslim worship in Makkah and Madinah, as well as the city of Al Aflaj which was his home away from homeland, he has no plans to work abroad anymore.
He still wants to return to the Kingdom, but now only as a tourist or pilgrim. A part of him will always remain there, he holds dear Saudi values and traditions, but “Pakistan is my heart and soul,” he said.
In 1979, Hafeez left Lahore for Saudi Arabia to find work as a plumber foreman at a water supply company. He has witnessed the Kingdom’s rapid transformation and modernization, and believes in the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
“They are the best leaders and I pray to God that Pakistan be blessed with similar rulers,” said Hafeez, who now needs to adjust to his homeland, after spending most of his life away.
In this video, narrating his experience in Saudi Arabia, where hospitality and kindness allowed him to feel at home, Hafeez expresses gratitude to the country which supported him in providing a good standard of living to his dear ones.