Muhammad Al-Ohaideb Okaz I know of a very poor family that has a daughter with a bachelor's degree in physics who could not find a job because she did not have any wasta (connections). She did not register in the Hafiz program to get the monthly subsidy of SR2,000 for 12 months simply because she did not have a computer in her home, which is in a very poor district. The family is simply too dignified to ask for assistance. I know another family whose sole breadwinner is an elderly woman. This family has a young man who suffers from a mental illness. The family also has three girls who are secondary school graduates but none of them are employed. The three girls are unable to get the Hafiz subsidy because they do not have a bank account, which is a prerequisite for registration in the program. They do not have the money needed to open a bank account and have no male guardian to help them do so. I learned from a very reliable source at the Hafiz program that the bulk of the program's money goes to the children of extremely rich families. I have previously cited an example of the complicated rules and regulations that do not care much about the poor. One example is of a Saudi woman who makes her living by selling traditional clothes on a pavement at one of the local markets. She told me that she had applied several times to obtain a house at all government housing projects but each time her application was rejected. The reason behind the continued refusal to give her a housing unit is that her total monthly income from the social security system and her late husband's pension exceeds the maximum limit by SR100. Her total monthly income is SR3,100 while the income of those entitled to a home under the government housing project should not exceed SR3,000. She cursed the SR100 that has prevented her from obtaining a housing unit. "This SR100 has prevented me and my family from obtaining a government accommodation. Because of this SR100, I am now paying an annual house rent of more than SR20,000," she said. It is obvious that there is a big flaw in the rules and regulations for giving government assistance and grants, which should target the poor citizens, especially those below the poverty line. The actual beneficiaries of these aid programs are normally the wealthy people and not those unable to buy food to eat.
