JEDDAH, 31 January 2005 — As the wave of pilgrims recedes, street peddlers from Russia, Dagestan and Ukraine remain behind on the streets of Jeddah. Hawking a wide and curious range of products — many unknown and some illegal — from their countries they gather in downtown Jeddah or along the seafront.
“We come from a poor country in order to perform Haj and we want to earn some money while doing so,” said Fatima from Dagestan. “We try to recover in sales of Russian products what we have spent to come here.
“Most Saudis are not familiar with Russian products and they find what we sell interesting. We have Russian knives, night-vision binoculars and swords. I have no idea if what we sell is forbidden or not but I can tell you that many Saudis are eager to buy what we have brought with us.”
“For many of us, Haj is both a religious and a business opportunity,” said Aisha from Ukraine. “I am from a poor family and I had to work for several years before I had enough money to perform Haj. The trip cost nearly $1,000 and that is a lot for someone like me.
“After Haj, I try to sell the things that I brought from home in order to cover my expenses and to make a profit. With the profit, I will start a small business when I go home. So far, I have managed to cover my expenses, thank God, and I have also made a profit.”
Linda, a Russian pilgrim, said she had sold all the items she brought with her and was very satisfied with the profit she made. “Now I am selling some fake items, some Chinese and some Thai.” It is the second time she has performed Haj; the first time she made enough money to go home and open a small shop. “This time, I am trying to make enough money so I can bring my parents to perform Haj next year.”
Sameera, a Russian pilgrim, said Russian pilgrims wanted to kill two birds with one stone — perform Haj and make some money while here. “The biggest problem for us here is the municipality. It tries to prevent us from selling our goods, saying that it is against the law to sell products at the front doors of shops or that our products are illegal and so the municipality threatens to seize them. In both cases, we manage to get away from it because they sympathize with us when they know where we came from. Because we are poor, we sometimes get different treatment.”
