SAUDI ARABIA: Poverty blamed for for forcing children into work

MAKKAH: The need for money sometimes drive parents to force their children to work in order to help them earn a living, despite a general consensus that child labor is wrong. Still, poverty can lead to the practice of utilizing child labor, including using kids as beggars.

Arab News visited a center in Makkah for children found begging on the streets and interviewed some of the kids living in the shelter.

Mukhtar Mahrani, a nine-year-old Burmese child, said his father compelled him to work to earn some money in order to help the family. He said he bought a wheelchair to rent for SR50 to the old and disabled who want to circumambulate the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque. While there are wheelchairs freely available, Mahrani says there is an occasional demand at peak times.

“When there are too many people the government chairs are not sufficient, so it is our chance to rent out wheelchairs,” he said.

Mahrani said since the guards at the gates of the Holy Mosques will not allow him to enter with his wheelchair, he usually volunteers to pick up an elderly or a disabled man or woman free of charge and pushes him or her right into the Haram. He would sometimes ask his father or mother to push the chair and turn it over to him inside the mosque.

Mahrani said his average daily income is SR500 but it doubles or triples at peak seasons.

Mahrani would not tell officials at the center the location of his parents lest they be arrested.

“I told them that I did not know my house as I always stay at the Holy Mosque. This way they cannot reach my parents,” he said.

Fawaz Ibrahim, a 10-year-old Afghan child, said his father has made him sell water bottles near a traffic light in the holy city. He said he would buy a carton containing 28 bottles of cold water at SR14 and sell them for SR1 apiece for SR14 profit. He said he starts work before Maghreb prayer and continues until close to Fajr prayer. “I am so tired. I cannot even fast. I hate my father for making me do this,” he said.

Hussain Shafie, a 13-year-old with no nationality, said when he refused to sell water, his father rented him to another man who made him sell water.

Majed Hassan, a 14-year-old Burmese kid, said he is working for himself and does not give his father a single riyal from his business of selling potable water. “I am better off now at the center. I forgot the pain of work when I came here,” he said.

Tariq Al-Bar, a psychologist, called for incriminating the parents who compel their children to work or to beg along the streets.