[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Travails of Makkah’s mountain dwellers" ids="56687,56688,56686,56685,56684"]
Badea Abu Al-Naja
ALTHOUGH many of the mountains in Makkah have been demolished to make way for development projects related to the Grand Mosque, the city still has dozens of mountains that are home to people largely cut off from the city and services most residents have access to. Saudi Gazette met several mountain dwellers and listened to their stories of the difficulties they daily encounter while living in the mountains.
Khalid Saeed lives on top of the mountains in Al-Nakasa neighborhood. Unable to afford a house in the city, Saeed said he has no choice but to continue to live in the house he was born in.
“I was born and raised and even got married living in this house. I have grownup sons and daughters who are going to get married soon and I am still living in this place. I simply cannot afford to move to the city and it is ten times cheaper to live in a house on top of the mountain, he said.
Saeed struggles to bear the physical strain of hauling things up the mountain but has no other choice.
“Every time I have to carry a cooking gas cylinder up the mountain, I hire a porter and pay him money to do it for me because I can’t do it anymore.
“Some people could not tolerate the situation and moved to neighborhoods in the city, deserting their houses. Today, these abandoned houses are used by criminals and undocumented workers,” Saeed added.
Muhammad Hakeem lives on top of Harat Qadhab Mountain. His house is located near a steep path where only one car can go in either direction. If two drivers come from different directions, one of them has to back up in order to let the other driver pass.
“It is a constant headache and many times the traffic comes to a complete halt until one car reverses. Only people who have been living here for many years know the amount of suffering we experience on a daily basis. I can’t even find parking near my house as I always come late at night. I have to park the car down the mountain and walk all the way up to my house,” he said.
Hassan Barnawi lives in an area that is inaccessible to cars. So, he has to walk a kilometer every day in order to get to his car and walk back the same distance to get home. Although he and his family members have got used to the situation, the inconvenience of living in an area with unpaved roads is something Barnawi worries about often.
“When a family member gets really sick and needs to be hospitalized, I usually call my neighbor to help me carry the patient down to my car. Things are worse when a fire breaks out in a house located on a mountain.
In most cases, fire trucks cannot get to the location and firefighters have to use really long hoses to douse the fire,” he said.
