JEDDAH: The video of a Saudi family’s tearful farewell with their maid, Houriya — who has spent 33 years in their household — went viral on social media platforms. People who’ve seen the video couldn’t hold back the tears as they watched Houriya wipe her tears as the family’s children, adolescents and adults bid her one final goodbye after 33 long years of “raising and caring” for them. A member of the family, Abdullah Al-Arfaj, told Arab News: “Houriya first came to my maternal grandfather’s house in 1986 and has been in our family for 33 years. During those years, she’d travel to Indonesia to visit her own family, but she always came back. She helped raise my maternal uncles, my generation, and now our children — that’s three different generations. She has become indispensable to us, an entity that exists alongside my grandfather, Rashid and my grandmother, and we view her respectfully, kiss the top of her head, just as we do to elders in the family.” “Now that she’s been gone only a number of days — she took away the serenity that comes with having an elder in the family. My grandmother passed back in 2012, my grandfather in ‘93, and the gap Houriya leaves is something we all feel in the family.” Al-Arfaj revealed that he hadn’t anticipated this unbelievable reaction the video garnered. He disclosed that it was not his intention, or his family’s, to spread it for views. “This is a person we cherish whom we had to let go, not due to any illness or fatigue, but out of respect to her growing old and tired, to give her rest and to be merciful as would anyone in our situation.” On any communication happening between the family and Houriya, Al-Arfaj said that the family plans to visit her hometown in the summer to check up on her, and they are waiting for her to call as soon as she settles down in Indonesia.