MAKKAH, 3 April 2008 — Hatim is a 39-year-old Saudi who has been married for 15 years but has not been able to have children because of his obesity. At 290 kilograms, he sells vegetables to make a living.
Despite attempts to improve his lot through vocational training, Hatim’s weight problem has hobbled his ability to perform many tasks.
“I spent a year and a half in a technical institute, then I joined a vocational college. After two years of studying ship maintenance I was not able to work in the same field due to my health.”
Hatim started by selling in Jeddah near the vegetable market.
“I worked with a Bangladeshi. After six months I was able to save money and I bought a location for SR4,500. After nine years in Jeddah I moved to Makkah and I started out again from scratch,” he said.
He blamed foreigners for having him to relocate from one market to another.
“I started by selling near the market but they would never accept me, so I moved to the Aziziya district,” he added.
He also said that he takes his pickup everyday in the morning and goes to Taif to buy from the farms there and go back to Makkah at 3 in the afternoon.
“I rest until after Asr, then I go to Aziziya and start selling there until midnight,” he said.
Hatim sells leafy vegetables from his pickup, which is not legal.
“I met with Prince Abdul Majeed, the former governor of Makkah, and he sent me to the deputy of the services affairs who told me to go and sell my veggies anywhere and if anyone addresses me I only need to contact him. Since then things got much better.”
He also added that he distributes the remaining leafy vegetables at the end of the day to poor people.
Hatim wants to start his own vegetable store. “I would not need to invest more than SR300 and the profit is huge,” he said.
Hatim said he tried several ways to drag Saudis into the business but they would always complain about the hard work and long hours.
“If they would work for a private company they would have to work the same 8 hours but with less salary,” he said.
Though Hatim tried several diets, his efforts did not succeed. “A doctor in Jeddah promised to make an operation that would help me reduce my weight but even that did not succeed and after three years I only lost 75 kilograms,” said Hatim.
