“Standing out on Tahlia Street opposite one of the main shopping malls, I observed a woman, at a guess in her thirties, wandering between shoppers and pedestrians with her outstretched hand, repeating expressions to engage her target audience and win enough sympathy to convince them to dig into their pockets and handbags for money. “Observing beggars, particularly women, on the streets of Jeddah, numerous questions come to mind. What leads them into begging? Is that woman who claims to be a Saudi really a Saudi? Does she truly have no other option in life than to wander between cars and pedestrians asking for handouts? Are her endless tales of hardship and woe true?” These and others are the questions that Roaa Magazine reporter Rozana Al-Yami sought to find answers to by heading out among the cars, noise and intimidation of the streets of Jeddah.JEDDAH – Before heading out into the streets, I thought it might be wise to pay a visit to the Anti-Beggary Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, and there I met department chief Sa'ad Al-Shahrani. Al-Shahrani kindly agreed to let me go ahead with my plan to paint a more realistic picture of the world of begging and beggars, particularly those of Saudi nationality, and particularly Saudi women. After obtaining Al-Shahrani's consent and gaining in the process a few words of advice and insight, I went out on my first “street test” to put into practice some of the moves and techniques I had learned from previous observations of beggars. I expected my being a Saudi to help me win over otherwise reluctant contributors, and so I played up that part of the act to attract attention. My expectations proved true – notably with men – despite the fact that research shows that women are more likely to give money to beggars than men. After the first day of experience-gathering and collecting a not inconsiderable sum of cash, I headed out the following day to a different site. As I arrived, I was surprised to be told by a local shop worker that the site was the “stamping ground” of another female beggar who I was warned might cause some trouble if she found me working her beat. The woman, by all accounts, arrived at the site by car each day with a group of children, and was picked up last thing at night. The group reportedly divided up into several troupes, each of which worked under the instructions of their “manager”. I decided to move away from the location a bit as I'd been warned of the conflicts that apparently exist between competing groups of beggars, and began to move into areas where traffic was thicker and my activities would be better hidden from the eyes of rivals. ‘Better offers' As I moved between the cars some people would ignore me, others would stop, each seemingly with his own motive for doing so. One man asked me to work for him as a maid. Another invited me to lunch. Another started trying to offer alternatives to a financial contribution to my situation. Some drivers told me to go and find a job, while one man offered me money in exchange for a touch of my hand! As I continued in my work I suddenly found myself confronted with a van from the Anti-Beggary Department and a police officer, and after failing to escape their attention I was put into a minibus. I decided to keep silent when asked about my identity in order to see what occurred as officials went about their duties rounding up other beggars. After other women were put in the van we were taken to the Social Statistics Office where everyone was interviewed one by one. When my turn came I had resolved to be a difficult interviewee in order to see how they handled the situation, and I refused to give them the information they sought, such as my name and telephone numbers and address, and educational background. The lady who interviewed me, and who remained remarkably patient in the face of my intransigence, said that since I was a Saudi and that this was the first time I had been caught begging, they would accept a written pledge from me to not repeat my actions and let me go after I gave details of my identity and fingerprints. At that point I telephoned Sa'ad Al-Shahrani, who told officials to take me to his office, where he revealed to them what my true purpose was. – Roaa/SGOfficial seeks public assistance Sa'ad Al-Shahrani, head of the Anti-Beggary Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said: “The public are at the front line in the fight against begging. The question of Saudi women begging needs to be looked at, although research shows that they number very few, and we come across only three or four at the most per month. As for the others, we pass them on to the police where there is a women's department with social workers who look at their background and needs and what support is available to them in terms of charities offering monthly help with food or other assistance. Some of the women are divorced or widowed, others have husbands in jail. We also maintain contact with the Women's Department at the Labor Office to find suitable work for them. If they have no qualifications they might find work as security guards or servers of coffee or supervisors at wedding occasions. One of the biggest problems is that many of them turn down the opportunity to work, perhaps because the pay is low and they prefer the freedom of begging, so we try to help them realize the dangers to them and their children who may also end up being brought up as beggars.” Begging on the rise According to statistics from the Anti-Beggary Department, the number of Saudi beggars has gone up by 19 percent compared to a rise of 15 percent last year. The most recent annual report from the Ministry of Social Affairs says that there are 5,206 Saudi beggars in the Kingdom and 21,136 non-Saudis, an overall fall from last year's figure of 30,008 Of the Saudis, 1,393 are male and 3,814 female. Bureidah topped the list for female Saudi beggars, registering 1,546, followed by Riyadh with 1,009, Abha with 344 and Dammam with 335. Other towns or regions, all recording fewer than 200 cases, are Tabuk, Madina, Al-Ahsa and Makkah, with Hail boasting the fewest, with only three. __
