JEDDAH: The office for combating beggary in Jeddah has received 1,823 maids, who have run away from their sponsors, according to Saad Al-Shahrani, director of the office.
Speaking to Okaz Arabic daily, he said the maids would be handed over to their sponsors as quickly as possible. “We provide these maids food and accommodation until they are received by their sponsors,” he added.
The paper did not say how these women ended up in the hands of the anti-beggary agency and whether they had engaged in begging considering it a better moneymaking profession.
Al-Shahrani said his office arrested 558 beggars during Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr holidays with the support of police, Passport Department officers and Mujahedeen forces. “About 98 percent of the arrested were foreigners,” he said. “We have got only 14 Saudi beggars and the rest were foreigners.” He said the foreign beggars have been transferred to the Department of Expatriates to deport them to their respective countries.
The Saudi beggars will be handed over to the office for combating beggary to study their situation. After studying their individual cases, these Saudis would be referred to the social insurance or charitable organizations to support them, he explained.
If a Saudi is found begging repeatedly just to make money without any legitimate reason, his case would be passed to the governorate to take appropriate action, he said.
The fasting month of Ramadan is considered one of the best seasons for beggars when Saudis and expatriates give a large amount of money in charity. Ramadan has passed but beggars could be seen all over the city, especially near supermarkets, mosques and traffic lights.
Beggars apply different methods to win the hearts of donors. They use handicap, disease, worn-out dresses and medical and hospital reports as pretext to beg. Some of them carry small children while some others recite certain prayers to get sympathy. Yet some others clean cars and ask their owners to pay them some money.
The Ministry of Social Affairs said it was ready to solve the problems facing Saudi beggars. “We have found that about 85 percent of beggars in the Kingdom are foreigners,” the paper quoted a ministry official as saying. The ministry sends capable men and women among the Saudi beggars to the Labor Office to give them jobs while orphans among these beggars are sent to the orphanages and the elderly to the homes of old men and women.
“If there are Saudi beggars suffering from social and family problems they would be sent to special guidance centers to give them proper advice,” the official said.
1,823 runaway maids handed over to their sponsors
