Her inability to speak Arabic does not hamper Mladev, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, formerly part of the Soviet Union, from dealing with Arab customers in Al-Balad's Qabil Street and selling them a variety of commodities she brought from her country when she came to perform Haj. She and her colleagues will not begin the long trip home in the old van that brought them here until they have sold the last item to their customers. Khalid Al-Mattrafi, a long time Saudi resident of the area, said that the street vendors come to the Kingdom each year with the dual purpose of performing Haj and selling their wares to the public. They spread their goods on Qabil Street in Jeddah's Al-Balad District several weeks after doing business in Makkah during the Haj season. Al-Mattrafi said the means of communication between the female street vendors and their customers is mostly through sign language. A customer need only point at the item he wants to buy and the vendor will hold up four fingers if she means that the price is SR40 with the number of fingers increasing with the price. Mladev, 25, who was wearing a Saudi abaya, had an array of sharp implements spread before her – screwdrivers, knives and daggers of different sizes and shapes. She even had night vision binoculars and torches. Among the vendors of various nationalities spreading their wares on the street for customers to chose from, African women formed the majority, selling rosaries, accessories and cheap gift items. However, the Russian street vendors are the most popular with shoppers on Qabil Street, as they sell unusual goods not often seen. Customers realize that this is a seasonal market that only takes place after Haj and they know that if they do not take the opportunity to buy some of these reasonably priced items now, they will have to wait until next year.
