Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Organized Child Begging
by Ahmad Hassan
Iraqi Journalist and Writer based in Baghdad.
One of the hazardous issues appearing after the latest war is the widespread begging on streets by children. On a background of unemployment and the lack of jobs for thousands in Baghdad and other governorates, such phenomenon is one of the most important ones facing the Iraqi society at this stage. The practice did not start at this stage, though. It has continued for years because of the conditions of society.
In most regions, many such beggars affirm that poverty and financial need are among the main reasons for their practice. Other causes have to do with the formula of their families, where beggars are born as orphans with no one to support them financially.
Mazen Rashid, 11, says that "the profession of begging gives me enough money to secure the daily needs of my family especially these days when unemployment is increasing and prices rise sharply." He adds that he stands at one of the crossroads every day from the early morning to practice begging.
His 9-year-old colleague, Sarmad Khaled, confirms that he makes around 10,000 dinars (about US$8) a day. This, he says, is enough to provide for the needs of his family, which is made up of seven persons after his father died five years ago. Concerning the bad security situation and how far it affects this portion of society, Khaled says that "we watch these explosions take place close to us, but we don't care and continue working to provide for our families."
One citizen revealed to us the existence of groups that are more similar to gangs which embrace tens of beggars, especially children, to use the money that they collect through their dispersion at all crossroads and local markets. They share the money at the end of the day and give a small percentage to children, while these groups take the larger sum of money.
Wandering along the streets and crossroads of Baghdad, one observes a huge number of beggars, most of them children under the age of ten. They gather around stopped cars asking for money. The same scene is at the local markets, although ministries concerned, especially the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, insist on embracing hundreds of children belonging to this section of society and putting them into rehabilitation departments in Baghdad and other governorates.
Definitely, there will be no magic solution to this complex, broad problem. It does not concern one side without the other. The Iraqi people suffered much, especially during the recent events. Thus, dealing with violence became a likelihood in all fields, and Iraqi people have come to use violence terms incessantly in their daily vocabulary. This makes it clear that the problem is broader than a few measures that can be bravely and simply forced. The seeds were sown within the psychological and social formation of the Iraqi family, which is now dangerously threatened. In addition to the psychological frustrations that they already suffer, no social change has happened that would help families to get over the crisis.
Iraqi Journalist and Writer based in Baghdad.
One of the hazardous issues appearing after the latest war is the widespread begging on streets by children. On a background of unemployment and the lack of jobs for thousands in Baghdad and other governorates, such phenomenon is one of the most important ones facing the Iraqi society at this stage. The practice did not start at this stage, though. It has continued for years because of the conditions of society.
In most regions, many such beggars affirm that poverty and financial need are among the main reasons for their practice. Other causes have to do with the formula of their families, where beggars are born as orphans with no one to support them financially.
Mazen Rashid, 11, says that "the profession of begging gives me enough money to secure the daily needs of my family especially these days when unemployment is increasing and prices rise sharply." He adds that he stands at one of the crossroads every day from the early morning to practice begging.
His 9-year-old colleague, Sarmad Khaled, confirms that he makes around 10,000 dinars (about US$8) a day. This, he says, is enough to provide for the needs of his family, which is made up of seven persons after his father died five years ago. Concerning the bad security situation and how far it affects this portion of society, Khaled says that "we watch these explosions take place close to us, but we don't care and continue working to provide for our families."
One citizen revealed to us the existence of groups that are more similar to gangs which embrace tens of beggars, especially children, to use the money that they collect through their dispersion at all crossroads and local markets. They share the money at the end of the day and give a small percentage to children, while these groups take the larger sum of money.
Wandering along the streets and crossroads of Baghdad, one observes a huge number of beggars, most of them children under the age of ten. They gather around stopped cars asking for money. The same scene is at the local markets, although ministries concerned, especially the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, insist on embracing hundreds of children belonging to this section of society and putting them into rehabilitation departments in Baghdad and other governorates.
Definitely, there will be no magic solution to this complex, broad problem. It does not concern one side without the other. The Iraqi people suffered much, especially during the recent events. Thus, dealing with violence became a likelihood in all fields, and Iraqi people have come to use violence terms incessantly in their daily vocabulary. This makes it clear that the problem is broader than a few measures that can be bravely and simply forced. The seeds were sown within the psychological and social formation of the Iraqi family, which is now dangerously threatened. In addition to the psychological frustrations that they already suffer, no social change has happened that would help families to get over the crisis.