CAIRO - His hair was dirty, had an unclean face and wore humble clothes. His body and clothes reeked of a strong, foul odour. The fat man moved about the travellers, trying to kiss them in the train, asking for money. To avoid his ‘gestures of physical affection', the disgusted travellers quickly rammed their hands into their pockets in search of coins to give him. There is no shortage of begging schemes, but this one was one of the strangest. "I hate these kind of beggars," Menna Mohamed, 20, said. "They prefer to take the easy way; no effort is required and a lot of money is the result," she said. The fact on the ground, she continued, is that beggars have many ways to get money from the people and the practice is not age or gender dependent. First, there is the old man who walks on the streets saying that he has no money and cannot afford to buy food and drink and just needs money to feed himself. Another would hold some papers that are allegedly medical prescriptions from a doctor documenting that he is very sick and, therefore, needs money to buy medicine. Regardless of the technique, all usually employ a hefty dose of carefully selected religious quotes for an added layer of emotional persuasion. Fadya Abou Shahba, a member of the Sociology and Criminology Research Centre, said that a new phenomenon has been traced where retired civil servants whether men or women are found begging in the streets. She said that the beggars don't need to learn how to beg at a special school, since the street is the ideal school for them. Abou Shahba said that poverty is the main reason beyond increasing the number of the beggars in Egypt. According to a recent report by Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, 3.5 million Egyptians are suffering poverty. "Young beggars are another story," Menna says. The adorable childish smiles or the heart wrenching crying with tears are both useful techniques because they make people feel sorry for them and give money. Another way children are used is to pitch to people in their cars at traffic lights, or to use them to sell pocket-sized packages of facial tissues. As for women, they, too, have their own begging schemes. Many of them use a new-born child, saying that she needs help raising the child. Additionally, she may assert that the child is sick and needs medical treatment, which she cannot afford. The requirements here are that the child be only a little older than a new-born, and if the child is somehow impaired, it's an added bonus. Other women, prefer to depend more on their religious appearance. They wear neqab and plead for people to give money, saying that they have been widowed and need money to bring up their young children. Or she may write her story on a piece of paper and distribute it to metro passengers, hoping that when she collects the papers it will be accompanied by money. The spread of beggars on almost every street corner have been confusing to passers-by. Many of them have trouble distinguishing between those who really deserve charity and those who take begging as a business. "There are many beggars who really, sincerely need money for legitimate problems and have no work or source to earn money. The problem is that there are also actors," Sara Ali told the Egyptian Mail. "It's really difficult to differentiate between them, so we shouldn't generalise that all of them are just acting or taking the easy way," she added. "I just depend on my good intention, as I am always afraid to oppress them by judging that they don't deserve help, and not to give this beggar who was really in a bad need to this money," Sara, 27, said. "I don't know whether this is right or wrong, but I don't have any other choice," she added. "Most of the Egyptians are just thinking by their hearts alone and donate their money in a haphazard way, even to those beggars who don't deserve it," Hamed Abou Taleb, member in the Islamic Research Centre, said. "This attitude makes beggars feel that it is easy to collect money, even more than working as employees, only without having to exert themselves," Abou Taleb added. Osama Abeid, professor of criminal law in Cairo University, said that the penalty for beggars is imprisonment for not less than one day and not more than three years. The penalty of children who beg is different than for adults, as children between the ages of 7 and 15 cannot be criminally punished. Children beggars can only be sent to an educational foundation for rehabilitation where they are educated and shown legitimate ways to earn money. Abeid regretted that penalties are not activated. "If they were, beggars would think twice before putting their hands out," he said.
