Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A recent study conducted by Al-Bir Society for Orphans in Jeddah said the society's center for child beggars since its opening welcomed 9,060 children from different countries who begged in the city's streets. The center, which has been operating since 2003, has deported 7,429 children to their countries and handed 1,631 children over to their families. The center is currently looking after 39 children. Mazen Batterjee, chairman of the society, said the center last year received 538 children at their shelter, 503 of whom have been deported and 18 handed over to their families. The center, said Batterjee, is an initiative that aims to prevent child beggary. The center also helps rehabilitate these children, provide them with Islamic education and give them guidance. The center also welcomes children whose parents are in the custody of deportation authorities. Children are kept at the center until the documents of their parents are processed. Batterjee said the center will register the children, change their clothes and perform medical tests on them. The families of children are fined and warned for sending their children to beg, while the society cooperates with passport officials to crack down on them. It also cooperates with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and International Islamic Relief Organization of Saudi Arabia. Saad Al-Shihri, head of the anti-beggary department, said Al-Bir's figures are conservative because there are many undocumented children who are begging on the streets. According to him, the number of beggars tends to increase during Umrah, Haj and the holidays. This is due to the sympathy of the public who tend to hand them cash, he said. There are six locations in north Jeddah where children mostly beg. Al-Shihri said the children tend to choose locations where there are places to hide when they spot the authorities. He said there are a number of government departments that work together to combat beggary, including the anti-beggary department, the Passport Department, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, traffic police and the police. Asked what procedures they follow if they catch children begging in the streets, Al-Shihri said if they are Saudi they will be sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs. However, if they are illegal foreigners they will be deported along with their families to their home countries. A warning and a fine is given to expatriates who are living legally in the Kingdom and are sending their children to beg, and they can be deported for repeat offenses.
