YANBU, 17 June 2007 — While visiting the old derelict Bedouin Market in downtown Yanbu, visitors are left amazed to see one old man each morning setting up shop selling honey and butter. The Bedouin Market has been completely empty of traders for nearly 20 years now and shoppers hardly visit it. The market is a memory of the distant past and is frequented by the odd tourist wanting to see the old part of the city.

However, every morning, Ouda Awad, 75, opens his shop until dusk. “I am from the coastal side of Yanbu. This is my shop and I use the money that I make selling honey and butter to treat my sick wife,” said Awad, adding that financially he is in a bad condition and sometimes hardly sells anything and ends up begging. “I live in a very difficult condition and there is no one to take care of me. I don’t have a son who could look after me and nor do I have a steady source of income. I’m completely dependent on people’s handouts,” said Ouda, inviting Arab News to look into his bare store.

“There isn’t much to sell. A lot of these containers are just simply empty. My wife broke her leg recently after slipping in the bathroom. I’m trying to pay for her medical treatment,” he said.

“She’s in desperate need of medicine and I’m leaving home every day to earn money. Sometimes I come home empty handed and tell her that I couldn’t earn anything because no one came to our store,” he said with tears in his eyes.

So why does Awad open shop in a derelict place such as this? “What can I do? I can’t afford rental prices elsewhere. It costs a lot to open a store. As for this place, it was given to me by a generous man, who asked me to only pay the electricity bill,” he said.

“As you can see there’s no air-conditioning here and I have to bear the heat. There are no lights and so I can only open during the day. When it becomes dark I close the shop and go home. My electricity bill doesn’t exceed more than SR20 a month,” he added.

Awad said that sometimes he makes nothing. If he’s lucky he earns around SR20, most of which is from charity. “I wish I could meet Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. His father, King Abdul Aziz, helped me over 55 years ago when he gave me some money to get married and start a family,” he said, adding, “I wish King Abdullah could help me.”