“First check and then give,” was the motto of a recent anti-beggary campaign aimed at stopping what has unfortunately become a very disturbing phenomenon. The phenomenon is one that neither poverty nor destitution has anything to do with. Those who beg may be better off than those who give to them. Indeed that is often the case.
The recent campaign uncovered two stark facts. First, in just one year some 8,520 beggars were arrested in Jeddah alone. By any standard, this is a large number and represents only a fraction of the actual number of beggars roaming our streets and regularly outsmarting the anti-beggary committees. Second, the daily income of a child beggar ranges from SR70 to SR100. This is the secret behind the profession. Why not just stand at a traffic light for a few hours and net a handsome monthly income when all it takes is a long arm, a sad look and shabby clothes? It is really very simple.
According to a senior official on one of the anti-beggary committees, begging has now developed into “family business” with parents sending their children into the streets and waiting for the money at the end of the day. How much will a family with five children earn per day if each comes home with from SR70 to SR100?
The ringleaders of these beggars have begun to behave like real emperors, directing the entire performance, hiring children and turning them into actual slaves. Not only that, the leaders have resorted to the brutality of kidnapping children who are then trained to beg and bring in the profits.
It is time we stood up and screamed: The riyal you give to these professional beggars is not going to help the needy but rather you are contributing to the spread of serious crimes that, in the long run, may prove devastating to the poor child beggars. In effect, we are paying to create new victims and even greater tragedies. I will not be surprised if I hear tomorrow that children are being brought from other countries or abducted from this one and forced into begging.
What is indeed surprising is that we continue to give money without making sure where it is going and for what purpose. Ours is one of a very few societies in the world with a large number of anti-beggary committees and with people who give millions of riyals to beggars every year.
