Thread by @AmerTheAwesome1

I just want to share this little threat about underground beggars society in Iraq. It is disturbing in its details.

So near shrines in Iraq -which there are many- there a lot of beggars, mainly women, holding their children having hydrocephalus. They sit and ask people for money. The fascinating part is there are people supplying those children for a set fee.

First of all there gang members preventing any -Maybe actual- homeless people from begging in those area, those are paid, the police don't intervene as they are paid as well. Recently my friend responded to an ad on an Iraqi job site for artists.

His current job, from which he makes around a 1000-2000$ a month to paint plus add few stuff on the heads of regular children to make it look like they have hydrocephalus. If you are unaware, this is what a child with hydrocephalus looks like.

So basically there is an entire underground industry of beggars in the streets of Iraq. People in it do so well, that when my father felt bad for a woman begging in the street and offered her around 40$ to clean the house once, she said that she makes more in an hour.

The disturbing parts are: Children with actual hydrocephalus go untreated and eventually die. Also they have agreements with hospitals to cause actual deformities to men, as they are less likely to gain sympathy if they weren't deformed.

Thus, there are men willingly get a hand or an arm cut off so they could make a living.

Finally, children in the industry. There are parents who force their children into begging, punishing them if they return without bringing in a certain amount of money, often torturing them. There are a sort of little communities of children begging in the street.

Some of the children resort to prostitution once they are 11 and older. A certain group I encountered personally had a girl who is 12 years old who would be "rented" by this fat greasy car mechanic everyday. Also, some of those children themselves would actually rape each other.

But due to the fact that those who are raped have no place to go, they stay in those groups. The way they would they talk makes you feel like it is a normal thing that happens. According to a friend, girls who get pregnant almost always end up dead, either by the group or family.

This whole thing is something I often stop myself from thinking about it as I am still in denial to it all. But in the end it is something that happens whether I like it or not.

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