CAIRO- In the crowded metro station in downtown Cairo, Egypt's capital, Oum Ahmed was moving among passengers and begging money, saying she was obliged to do so to buy medicine for her child. "Please, for god's sake, help me, I need to buy medicine for my child," Oum muttered. However, passengers showed different reactions. Many gave her money while others showed no sympathy because they thought Oum was playing as a beggar to make money, although she's not. The holy month of Ramadan is considered to be the peak season for beggars as Muslims want to approach Allah by helping the poor. Although there are some people who disguise as beggars to make use of this advantage, begging is an aggravating phenomenon in Egypt as the number of beggars is increasing everyday, said experts. "Begging has become a career in Egypt, so you are not sure whether a beggar really needs help or not," Azza Koriem, a professor of sociology, told Xinhua, "some beggars became rich through begging, and they prefer to continue begging and create new ways to deceive people." A beggar can collect some 30 to 60 Egyptian pounds (about 5.3 to 10.6 US dollars) a day, "more than the daily income of a civil servant," Koriem said. In Ramadan, a beggar can earn 300 Egyptian pounds a day as people are more willing to help. "This kind of beggars affect the real poor people as donors do not trust any beggar at all and they don't give any of them money because it is hard to differentiate them," said Koriem. "Professional" beggars are smart and creative. They always come up with new ways to persuade people to give them money, and they have their own strategies, from choosing the right place to using memorized story as a hook, according to Koriem. They choose the most crowded places in the city to guarantee more chances, and make sure no one knows their real identities. To gain people's sympathy, they wear tattered clothes and keep grievance on their faces. Some of them pretend that they are suffering severe disease. "Beggars followed me everywhere, asking for money," said Samir, a 28-year-old doctor. "They are deceitful, they are begging in order not to work, they want to make easy money, that is all," said Samir. It doesn't stop at dressing as beggars, some of them pretend that they are representatives of charity associations to collect donations. Earlier this month, Egyptian police arrested a woman who collected 300 Egyptian pounds in half an hour, saying she was working for a charity association. "I know a beggar who has his own big house," said Hani, a 54- year-old civil servant, adding "a friend told me that he had seen a bagger eating in a very expensive restaurant, after begging for several hours." Reasons behind the increasing of beggars are the rising unemployment rate among adults, the climbing number of poor people in Egypt, said Koriem. Unemployment rate reached 9.4 per cent in 2009 while there were more than 2 million beggars in the same year, according to official statistics. Economic growth in Egypt did not lead to the improvement in the living standard of the poor. According to a report issued by the World Bank in March, the ratio of poor Egyptians to the country's whole population reached 23.4 per cent in fiscal year 2008/2009 that began on July 1, compared to 20 percent in previous fiscal year. Official figures show that around 40 per cent of Egypt's 80 million people live on less than two dollars per day. One of the Egyptian TV channels broadcasted an advertisement recently, calling on donors not to give money to those beggars in the street. Instead, they can help the real poor by giving money directly to NGOs and the nearest mosque or hospital. "Beggar's are rich, comfort Egyptians, maybe one day they will ask the government to establish a syndicate for them," said Alaa Mohammed, one of the metro passengers. (1 US dollar = 5.69 Egyptian pounds)
