Professional Beggars in Morocco Earn Up to $30 Daily, Reject Job Offers

Begging is no longer a matter of physical incapacity to work, but a career choice. In all the cities and villages of Morocco, every day without exception, we see them at work, as in an official profession. All day long, people ask for alms, adopting well-studied strategies to attract and gain the compassion of passers-by, in order to earn more money. "There are beggars who even refuse job offers, because they earn a minimum of 250 to 300 dirhams per day," said the professor-researcher in sociology, Ali Chaabani, in a statement to the MAP.

Their favorite places: in front of supermarkets, train stations, shopping centers, near mosques, schools or even near traffic lights. Some have even come to target the richer regions or neighborhoods, "becoming more and more greedy for money," the sociologist stressed.

Among them, we distinguish the disabled, as well as the addicted to easy gain, determined to get rich by holding out their hands. "Often, they come to beg in front of my pharmacy and when someone buys or gives them bread..., they refuse," testifies Naima, a pharmacist in the city center of Kenitra. Sometimes, they rent out teenagers or the elderly to achieve their goal; it is not uncommon to see them exploiting children, reports Panorapost.com.

To recall, the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and Family had taken measures including the national action plan to combat the exploitation of children for begging purposes. Nearly 100 children have been rescued from exploitation in begging in the cities of Rabat, Salé and Témara, until the beginning of the confinement period, the same source said.