The Ministry of Social Affairs has cancelled its decision to move orphans into rental furnished apartments after one was found dead in an apartment in Riyadh recently. The police are still investigating the death of the 20-year-old. According to sources, the ministry has taken the decision because orphans have found it difficult to live on their own. Some of them have turned into delinquents and are using drugs and peddling liquor. Some people have suggested that special complexes be built specially to house orphans. The sources said that other orphans have also died after leaving their orphanages. The first case was that of a 16-year-old who was leaving for the Eastern Province on his way to a neighboring Gulf country. The second case was of an orphan who had been suffering for a long time from a chronic disease without getting proper treatment and social care. Some fellow orphans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the death of the 20-year-old was discovered six hours after it happened. They claimed that the Ministry of Social Affairs has sent them to face the challenges of life without any friend or guide. Others said that while the ministry houses them in furnished apartments and pays the rent, water and electricity bills, they still have to face life alone without guidance and help. One orphan said: “We can't live alone because we have no relatives or anyone who will listen to our concerns. The social workers visit us once a month but many of them are not trained to deal with our problems. We are in a very dangerous situation.” The young boy said that some of his orphan friends who live alone have “deviated from the right path because of bad company”. Others are begging to survive because the ministry pays only SR250 as a food allowance a month in addition to SR150 as a social security allowance. “This amount is too little to meet the basic needs of life and high cost of living,” he added.
