Figure 1.--This is a modern photograph of Saudi boys taken in the 2019. It is different from the 1945 photigraph on the previous paage. It does not give the iompression of poverty. The futhas look as more purposely woven, rather than simple cloths wrapped around the waist. They look spotkless and are worn with shirts. A reader tells us that perhaps the children are barefoot because they prefer it, as we see in many countries. Our concept of Saudi Arabia is tht going barefoot is more of a poverty indicator. They could own sandals, but may have taken them off to play.
While the thobe and associated garments are fairly standard today. It is not the tradtionl dress of the common people, but what the Arab elite tradionally wore. Before the discovery of oil, the Arabian Peninsula was one of the poorest places on earth. Few people, let alone the boys were dressed fashionably. Historically what was worn was the futha. This was the most inexpenice garment possible, just a length of cloth with no added worked/sewed features at all. It was a cloth wrapped around the waist. It is a sort of kilt or skirt, albeit long extending down to the calves or ankles. The futah was a widelhy worn garment. It is the native dress in Audi Arabia (but not very coimmon yiday), Yemen, southern Africs, Southeast Asia, and some islands of Oceania. Men mightnwar wear these garments during religious ceremonies and family gatherings. Women wear them as part of their everyday dress. In Oceania they are better known as a sarong. We note photograohs before Saudi Arabia became wealthy
of men, wome, and children commonly wearing this garment. We see boys on the previous page wearinbg head bands wtih the futha and belts that had nothing to do with holding up the garment. Those wearing the futha were commonly barefoot. Some Saudis today dress up in futha, but it is today more common in poorer areas like Yemen. We are not sure about the modern conventions. We had the ideas that the Saudi Government had largelyh ebded poverty. Here we see two boys in 2019 wearing futahs (figure 1). They do not look poor, but they are barefoot. We are not sure if that is a poverty indicator or a cultural matter.
Saudi Arabia has the lowest reported poverty rate in the Middle East and the 10th lowest poverty rate in the world at 12.7 percent, as of 2017. However, the Saudi government does not release regular statistics regarding this information, resulting in varied estimates by outside agencies.
It ois possible thhat the boit here are the cildren of foreign workers, although many foreig workers do not being their families.
