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Children are always the victims of divorce. They are the ones who suffer, often in silence, confused and caught up in an explosion of hate between the two people they look up to and love the most. GulfWeekly reporter Farishta Saeed interviewed two young Bahrainis who come from broken homes and talked to them about their experiences. They asked for their full names to be withheld.
Fahad, 21, said his parents got divorced when he was 16 years old.
"I was still at school. I was a very good student and had a good life with my two younger sisters," he said. "Like all families, my parents used to fight from time to time but I never saw things getting out of control."
Then one day there was a big fight and Fahad's father physically abused his mother.
"My mother really got upset this time and went to live at my grandfather's house along with us. After a few days my father came to visit my mother and they both sat discussing the situation," said Fahad.
"Later they called me and my sisters and told us that they were getting divorced. It was really a shock.
"I mean, how could this happen? What are we going to do now? Who are we going to live with and where are we going to live? These were just a few of the questions that were crossing my mind at the time."
The fights between Fahad's parents did not stop and at the end the children had to go to court to choose who they wanted to live with.
"It was a very difficult decision to make," he said. "They were my father and mother - I loved them both but in the end we all chose to live with our mother because we were closer to her.
"My father got very upset with us and thought that we did not want him anymore so he cut off our allowances. Unfortunately, he didn't understand that no matter how much we love him and care for him we will always love our mother more."
Fahad now lives in a flat with his mother and sisters.
"During the divorce procedure, I left school because I could not concentrate on my studies anymore. Actually, I couldn't concentrate on anything in my life. I hated everything and everyone," he said.
"I started working for a while then I quit. I don't have a job now, I spend most of my time hanging out with friends and not worrying about my future ... simply because I feel I have no future.
"There are times when I wish I was dead. There is nothing worthwhile in my life. I know I am responsible for my failure but, believe me, I can't do anything about it. All my dreams of a happy life are shattered."
Twenty-two-year-old Mona's parents divorced when she was seven. "I had a miserable childhood. I hated every minute of it. There was no one to look after me," she said. "My mother was upset when my father divorced her and since I was her only child she released all her anger on me. She used to hit me a lot and swear at me and eventually blamed me for everything that went wrong in her life."
Mona's father lived away, so he didn't get to see his daughter everyday.
"Whenever my father came to visit me my mother fought with him and to avoid all the shouting and swearing his visits became fewer and fewer," she said.
"My father remarried when I was 11 and at that age I had a better understanding of what happened between my parents, why my mother was acting like that and why my father didn't come and see me everyday. I am not saying that I perfectly understood things, but there were matters that were clearer to me than before.
"One day, I decided that I didn't want to live with my mother anymore, so I called my father and I told him that I wanted to move in with him and he was delighted."
Mona moved in with her father few days later. "His wife was a nice person. She treated me well and cared for me. She wasn't abusing me like my mother and that meant the world to me," she said. "Of course, my mother was not happy with my new life and she tried to create problems but we went on and lived our daily normal lives.
"She still humiliates me whenever she gets the chance. She will always live miserably."
