Hey guys..this is a post from Khalid. He has decided to reach out to the website and wanted to share his story about what happened when he made contact with his father. This is what he had to say:
My government name at birth is Khalid Ahmed Stroup. My father refused to sign my birth certificate and he told my mom that he didn’t want me holding his last name. He told her never to tell anyone that he is my father and he said that he’d help from A far. After he went back home in Riyadh, he kept in contact with me until I was twelve years old. He only called me once A year if that and he’d whisper to me over the phone telling me that he loved me. He’d try to talk me in to going overseas almost every time we spoke but my mother told me so many bad things about Saudi Arabia. She didn’t want to lose me. she thought she’d never see me again. I turned down my father’s request to have me live with him because I didn’t really know him and all that my mother said. He wanted to get me out there and change my birthday so it looked like he wasn’t married when I was born.
My mother always talked to me about my father’s royal status and one time I asked him if he truly was A millionaire prince and he told me that he was and said I’d be rich too if I went out there. He offered me the world. He promised to make me rich and that excited me but my mother and my step father interfered with me going to live with him. I remember when I was around 11 years old, my father called and said that his mother was dying of cancer and her last request was to see me before she died. She was taken on A plane out here to the U.S. and was in A hospital in San Francisco. My step father spoke with my dad and he claims that my father wanted him to help kidnap me. My mother and step father made A big deal about it and they didn’t let me go see my grandmother when she was on her deathbed. Eventually my mother changed her phone number and not long after that, I was put in the system. I was in and out of institutions my whole life: JuvenileHall, group homes, jail, and prison. I went to prison for defending myself against someone who attacked me with A broken beer bottle and while I was incarcerated, I made it A set goal to find my father when I got released. After I got out, I started messaging a lot of people with his last name in Saudi Arabia. I’ve came across a lot of relatives who judged me and put me down. No one wanted to get involved and practically all of them were very rude with me. It took me a couple years to actually get my father’s phone number. I don’t think I would’ve got it if I didn’t have DNA proof. I don’t think a lot of them took me serious but once I took the ancestry test, A first cousin of mine who knows my father very well gave me his number. I sent my dad a long paragraph expressing how I feel, and how I wanted to be apart of his life. Everything I said was from the heart. I really needed someone to turn to. I was going through A lot in my life and I felt Alone. I was craving for my father’s love and acceptance. I wanted to be accepted in to the family more than ever! I thought for sure my father was going to block me but he didn’t. He responded back to me, then he had A friend of his call my phone. I spoke with his friend and he said that my father understands what I’m going through and that he was thinking about me A lot after I messaged him. He said that my father wants to be apart of my life but there’s complications.
The man asked if him and my dad could have A face to face meeting with me in the states so they could discuss the issue at hand. I was skeptical him calling it a meeting but I agreed to meet with them and they said they would be in the states within 60 days. We had a plan to meet in the Bay area and my father’s friend asked me not to have any contact with anyone on social media until they met with me. A couple days later the covid pandemic came out and there was a hold put on international flights. About A week or so later, I received A phone call from my father. I was so nervous when he called because I hadn’t talked to him since I was A child. The conversation we had turned out to be really good. He seemed like A kind person with A big heart. He kept telling me how much he loved me and how he wanted to come to the states and give me A big hug. He said I’d always be A member of his household. He even asked to speak with my mother and they talked for awhile. After that phone call I had with him, my life fell completely downhill. I ended up homeless and I asked his friend to see if he could help me. He said he spoke with my father and he promised to give me some money so I could get on my feet. I gave his friend my bank info but I got nothing. I started giving up on life and I ended up incarcerated again. I was sentenced to four years with half in prison for criminal threats. I just recently got released and I’m back home on summer homeless on the streets. I reached out to my father again through WhatsApp. I explained everything that’s been happening with me and my current living situation but once he read my message, he blocked me. I reached out to his friend. The middleman, and he ignored me.
I thought my dream of actually meeting my father was going to come true. I thought I was actually going to be able to meet him for the first time and I thought that he was going to change my life around for the better but that didn’t happen. I’ve always been bothered from the fact that my father is a very wealthy man who grew up in a 64-room mansion and I’ve always been poor. I became homeless for the first time when I was 16. I’ve had a lot of obstacles in my life and I’m still going through them. Everything I’ve encountered inspired me to write a book about my life. I might not be able to be in my father’s life but I have the chance to share my life story and be heard. I’ve been told by a lot of people in the family that my father’s a millionaire. One person said he’s a billionaire. When I was 19 years old I came in contact with someone who went to school with my father and he told me that my dad was rich. I don’t know if he’s in the billions or millions but I honestly just wanted to get to know the man. I was never after his money. I would be happy just to have a roof over my head and gave my life together.
Saudi Children Left Behind 