Mahmoud Ahmad

The sight of beggars on every corner of the streets of Jeddah is becoming normal. Today no one is surprised to see beggars everywhere. They would only be surprised if they did not see the familiar face at the familiar corner at the familiar times. For they are becoming familiar faces on our routes to work and on our way back home.



It would be a real surprise if one did not see any beggars at a main street intersection. For that’s the familiar setting where these capricious personalities go about their business — universally called begging. What saddens me, and should also sadden others, is that we are mute spectators to this universal phenomenon while basically standing helpless and watching this problem grow every day and being unable to contribute to its solution. Invariably, we all hide behind the useless refrain: “There’s nothing we can do.” 



In addition, we slowly start living the adage of familiarity only breeds contempt by totally ignoring the humans who stretch their hands out for a brief recognition — day in and day out. Also the human beings practicing this trade become more resolute and canny when the authorities come down heavily on them. The more they are arrested and deported, the more they resort to methods to evade the long arm of the law, and more beggars will come to replace those who fall into the dragnet.



Criminals have benefited from the generosity of Saudis to the needy and have made a business out of it. This type of business is illegal and criminal. It also negates the concept of charity and in the process deprives those people who are really in need. The money collected — by those capable of earning their daily bread — out of the beggary business is dirty money and some of the methods used to earn this money are horrifying. 



In most cases, children are smuggled from neighboring countries and forced out on the street to beg for money. Criminals do not care about the extremities of the weather —whether it is cold or hot or raining outside. Children are made to stand in the heat of the sun for long hours to collect money for these criminals, who sometimes are gang leaders or elders from their own families.



As in many businesses, beggary also relies on public relations and image. The more sorry the beggars look, the more they will tug at the hearts of those who have a charitable bent or even those who are hard-hearted. To transform the image of children and make them capable of collecting more money, gang leaders sometimes leave them dirty and in rags. Some even go to the extent of inflicting wounds to make the children look miserable and to enable them to evoke sympathy from the public. Some of them are seen with their wounds open, sore and raw for days even though a simple bandage would have helped limit the severity of the wounds. The wounds must be real and look painful for only then will they motivate people to dip into their pockets for a hefty donation or at least for some small spare change. 



These heartless criminal gangs will go as far as to amputate the arms and legs of these children because the more handicapped they are, the more money they will bring in. This will also be a permanent source of income, as the children will never recover from this malicious physical damage. I have even heard from people in Makkah that some people, who practice beggary, undergo illegal surgery to amputate their arms or legs for begging.



What is more surprising, and this I was told by a beggar himself, is that the street corners of Jeddah are divided into territories ruled by different gangs of beggars. It is similar to drug dealers in American movies who control a street or a hot corner. No one from other gangs is allowed to operate in that location, and if someone dares to break the code and one gang crosses into another gang’s territory, then it means total war. In fact, a year ago I saw two Asian women engaged in an all-out catfight on the road. The two were fighting in the middle of the street because one of them claimed that the street was her territory.



With the number of beggars growing exponentially as the size of the city increases, I sometimes wonder if the anti-beggary department really exists. I have never seen them on the street, and no one I know has ever seen their cars combating this negative phenomenon.



I see beggars nearly everywhere, and I am sure that many others see them as well. They walk without fear past police cars, even stretching out their hands for alms, and are not afraid of getting arrested. I even saw a beggar at a traffic light knocking on the window of a police car begging for money. How daring can they be? It just beggars belief!



 In the past people knew that only the needy begged. And with the good intention of giving beggars money knowing that they were in need, people contributed alms and charity. Nowadays, thanks to criminal gangs, we are warned against giving money to beggars because they will abuse it.



I remember at a mosque in Al-Rawdah district, there was a father with a severely handicapped child in the back row of the mosque. I could not take my eyes off the child because the scene was so riveting and I felt sorry for the child and the father. After the prayer, the father stood up and asked people for money that he could use to treat his child. People were sympathetic and began giving him money. I waited until the crowd cleared so I too could offer help by writing his story in the newspaper so that some members of the community might come forward to help the child. 



The father panicked when I started asking questions about the condition of the child. I asked him for his phone number and he began sweating and gave me a number that was not correct. When I called, the phone in his possession did not ring. Finally he stood up, carried the money and the child and ran from the mosque. One of the people inside the mosque told me that he had seen the man with different children in different locations.



What these beggars are doing is renting these children from their biological mothers for the whole day for an agreed amount. The man or the woman will make money by begging and give a cut to the real mother.



Some people and mosques are fighting back. They call police and the anti-beggary department to report beggars on the street. Some imams are chasing these beggars out of mosques and sternly warning them not to collect money inside the mosque knowing that the majority of them are members of a gang.



It is high time for all of us to stand united against this negative phenomenon and make it the responsibility of every security sector to arrest beggars on the street when they see them. It should not only be the responsibility of the anti-beggary department as they cannot do anything with their limited resources.



I have seen how some of these children, when caught, are happy because they are delivered, literally, from the suffering of the street to a clean home operated by the anti-beggary department where they are given clean clothing and food until their problems are solved or they are deported back home. That smile of relief should be enough of a reward for all of us.

 

— The writer can be contacted at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa.