Sometimes charity workers or scouts try to alleviate the hardship of the cleaners.

For many sanitary workers, the Islamic greeting has become a way to tug at people’s hearts. The greeting is made in hopes of receiving a couple of riyals in exchange for cleaning the streets.

Standing at traffic lights with their brooms, their offering of the greeting is a sure sign of wanting a handout. They can also be found standing around malls and next to tables at open-road diners in what amounts to beggary.

Many sanitary workers have resorted to begging because of their low wages, which in the best of cases, does not exceed SR300. In addition to the financial hardship, there is the nature of the work carried out under the soaring temperatures in the Kingdom.

This has led the National Society for Human Rights to call for a higher minimum monthly wage to ensure a decent standard of living with an extra month’s bonus wage every year, in addition to renewing their residency permits promptly.

The Jeddah municipality previously announced it would increase the wages of sanitary workers to SR700 in accordance with the Labor Law but this has not stopped other incentives for these workers including free food, presents and others perks.

The Eastern Province municipality launched an initiative last Shawwal and Ramadan to honor cleaners, distribute presents and make people aware of the important and dynamic role these workers play in community work.