JEDDAH – A Saudi family has been forced to live on the beach in a homemade hut erected on a car trailer after Social Security refused to give them financial help as they could not provide a permanent address.
The seven-member family lives and sleeps in the four square-meter boathouse their father, Abdullah, built 15 km from the Saroum Border Guard Point in the south of Jeddah’s Corniche. The family use the sea for washing and sanitary purposes and their five children do not attend school.
Abdullah, who is unemployed, says his family has nowhere else to go and now depends on collecting and selling aluminum, and on the occasional charity of visitors to the beach.
“I went to the Social Security offices to seek help,” Abdullah said, “saying that I had no house and that my family was homeless, but they insisted I provide an address. I said that if I had an address I wouldn’t have had to come to them in the first place!”
“I have a 22-year-old Industrial Collection certificate, but it has never helped me find work, and has in fact been a part of my troubles,” Abdullah said. “Everywhere I go I am asked what the subject means. The certificate is 22 years old; 22 years and it hasn’t helped me find a single job!”
Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has said that it is investigating the situation of the homeless family.
Chief Supervisor of the HRC for the province of Makkah, Abdullah Bin Salim Al-Mu’tani said they had received reports about the family and that a representative had been sent to verify the information and bring the case to the attention of the relevant authorities. – Okaz/SG
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