Young Saudis take advantage of summer break to serve pilgrims

The Haj season offers great opportunities for young Saudis who wish to work as volunteers in Makkah.

A large number of young girls and boys are taking advantage of the summer break, which this year coincides with the Haj season, to find opportunities for seasonal volunteering jobs both in Makkah and in other holy places.

Most of these youths prefer to provide services to pilgrims through volunteering work in government and private institutions, which employ hundreds of Saudis and non-Saudis every season.

Large numbers of volunteers from different regions of the Kingdom arrived in Makkah and serving in a number of specific jobs.

One of the characteristics these youths share during their volunteering work is the smile, which is always obvious on their faces while serving pilgrims who in return bestow them with blessings and invocations.

The voluntary work provides these young men and women with experience and opportunities in different fields.

Walid Hamoud and Maatouq Saraj described this work as “a big opportunity” as they gain morally and get to learn a lot about different cultures due to the presence of pilgrims from all over the world.

Other youths who preferred to join an institution to work as “mutawwif” like Allaeldinne Mandili, Abdulrahman Al-Khawtani and Naif Samsari say their work is dedicated completely to receive the pilgrims, organize the pick-up and drop-off and assist the pilgrims with information regarding specific locations and other services.

Talal Qasas, who heads the Tawafa Establishment for South Asian Pilgrims, said working during the Haj season is a privilege for the youth as they learn how to count on themselves and how to deal with people from different backgrounds.

He added that a lot of these institutions hold workshops and training sessions to make the volunteers ready for any challenge they might face in the field.

A number of government sectors try to attract volunteers each year, including the Civil Defense, the Red Crescent, Saudi Scouts, universities, a number of health sectors and private sector institutions.