JEDDAH, 12 November 2006 — The period after Ramadan has long been a time when the number of beggars increases. Normally beggars come to the Kingdom for Umrah and deliberately overstay their visas; they plan to make money by begging.
This year is no different except that beggars have reached new levels of competence and professionalism. As reported by the Anti-Beggary Department, about 40 percent of beggars are women from Africa, Asia and the Arab world. Those who come from the Arab world have taken advantage of their knowledge of Arabic to escape from the authorities and come up with new techniques of begging. Many of them speak with a Saudi accent in order to create the impression that they are Saudi.
This year in the post-Ramadan period, many businesses along Tahliah Street have complained of beggars who approach them. The beggars are well-dressed, looking like young Saudi women with full makeup. As they enter the building, one might think they are employees or customers.
“Once I opened the door and found an attractive woman who sounded like a Saudi and I was shocked when she asked for money,” Bandar Al-Tuairiqi said.
Al-Tuairiqi, who works in an advertising company in Tahliah Street, said that he had had the same experience four times within one month. He said he had never seen this action before.
“The situation is so new that a person does not know how to react,” he said, adding that it would be extremely hard to stop the women because they look like a customer entering the building.
Khalid Ahmad, an employee at a public relations company in Tahliah Street, said that the phenomenon has become very annoying. “Now you can’t tell a beggar from a customer,” he said. The problem, he pointed out, is that they not only beg but they seduce as well with the way they talk and move. “This is a very dangerous phenomenon because they might cause an increase of AIDS in the country.” He noted that the number of beggars is on the increase and that they are seen everywhere. “Where is the anti-beggary department?” he said.
Saad Al-Shahrani, an official at the Anti-Beggary Department in Jeddah, said that more than 1,000 beggars had been detained since Ramadan. He added that so far they had not received complaints about female beggars going to businesses in Tahliah Street. He said that the only complaints they had received were from companies that provide charity on a regular basis. Sometimes the companies get overcrowded with beggars and call the anti-beggary department to reduce the crowds.
Al-Shahrani said that an increase in the number of beggars was normal at this time of the year and after Haj. He said that the vast majority of beggars are foreigners but that some 2 percent are Saudis while 4 percent are children.
