He travels the city from early afternoon to late at night distributing fliers for about SR50 to SR100 a day. He is a member of a team of children and youths who distribute brochures, ads and promotional samples.

Each skating team in Jeddah has 30 young members, most of them under 18. “Some members are really in need of money,” said a skater. “Others work for fun and good company. However, everybody agrees that obviously advertisement agencies are exploiting us.”

As a result of the volunteering trend in Jeddah after the last year's flood disaster, many young people who rushed to become volunteers, have been welcomed by the advertising agencies and some welfare associations.

Arab News discovered that during this year many advertising agencies and welfare associations sought the services of boys and girls for carrying out business and welfare activities and campaigns. A number of advertisement representatives and welfare supervisors said that agreements realized with advertising agencies to carry out welfare activities may include making use of the volunteers’ services, and may even include the volunteers’ head-count.

Usually, volunteers undertake physical activities and they are not aware of the agreement between the welfare association and the agency. They volunteer without pay or for a little amount not commensurate with the hard work they undertake.

Those who live in Jeddah see tens of attendants who stand at traffic signs carrying heavy bags on their backs and distributing ad materials. They also see young women at shopping centers in the city distributing promotional gifts and posters for welfare associations.

Dr. Sulayman Al-Ghuddayyan, professor of psychiatrics at Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, urged the authorities to protect youths from exploitation by public and private institutions. 

“These phenomena should be studied to protect minors,” he said, adding that previous research revealed the negative impacts of such practices on minors, including sexual abuse that may cause them to be against volunteering in adulthood. Al-Ghuddayyan applauded educating young generations, encouraging them to serve their community. However, precautions should be set to prevent exploitation and negative impacts.

“These practices should be monitored closely. We should beware of companies that exploit sons and daughters of needy families,” he said.