Shamsheet Ali, from Pakistan, has been coming to work in downtown Jeddah every season for the last seven years. (AN photo by Hasan Hatrash)

JEDDAH, 8 August 2006 — With the approach of the peak shopping season in the holy month of Ramadan, it becomes quite a common sight to see seasonal illegal workers, locally known as human trolleys, carrying people’s shopping in Jeddah’s downtown Balad district.

The human trolleys carry big empty boxes and ropes to carry goods and offer to carry anything small or big for a minimal fee. Empty boxes are used to store the goods and then tied up with the rope. These human trolleys carry the box over their heads and follow the shoppers from one shop to another until they finally reach their cars.

They come from Yemen, India and Pakistan to perform Umrah or Haj and stay for a few months working as human trolleys collecting enough money to subsidize their living back home.

Abdullah Ahmad, a Yemeni shopkeeper in Balad, said that some of these workers have been in the Balad area for the last 20 years. They come every year, work for a few months and then leave.

He noted that the Yemeni workers are quite popular among large families who come to shopping during Ramadan.

“Usually families hire them out of courtesy and because they’ve known them for years. Some shop owners know about the bond between the Yemeni workers and big families, so they give them money to drag people to their shops,” he said, adding that some of the workers bring along their families and make them beg while they carry people’s shopping during the day.

Uncle Abbas, the most famous human trolley in Balad, was standing with an empty box in the busy Qabil Street. Dressed in traditional Yemeni clothing comprising of a traditional loincloth (footah), shirt and a turban, Uncle Abbas is an interesting character.

Speaking with a distinctive Yemeni accent, he said, “I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years. I come for Umrah and Haj and then spend a few months working with my box and rope until I collect enough money to support my family back in Yemen.”

He said that on a good day he collects around SR100. Since he’s well known in the whole area, even on bad days he still receives help from shop owners and frequent shoppers.

When Arab News asked him about the money he receives from shop owners to bring customers to their shops, he just smiled and nodded his head in disapproval.

Another popular worker in the area is a Pakistani man called Shamsheet Ali, who has been coming to the downtown area for the last seven years.

Ali, a farmer in Pakistan, comes to the Kingdom a month before Ramadan and works until he collects enough money to subsidize his Umrah trip and look after his family back home.

“During the peak season it isn’t a problem to find work, but we still spread out into different areas in turn so that everyone gets an equal share of the work,” he said.

Qabil Street is the “gold mine” he said. In Ramadan he makes more than SR200 a day. “Mostly I don’t ask for a price, I’d leave it for the generosity of people. If we walk for too long they feel sorry and pay me SR10, but if it’s a short walk I usually get SR5.”

He mostly approaches families and ladies, who he said shop the most. “Sometimes they get frightened when I approach them, but most of them end up hiring us at the end of the day.”

Shamseet says that his annual visit to the Kingdom is a chance to make a little bonus money for him and his family. “This is a land of blessing, every time I come I can get enough to support my family and sometimes my friends,” he said with a smile.