The ice-cream seller
Other Voices
TBy Ahmad Al-Sarraf
he summer is over and the heat is waning and with it the miserable ice-cream carts and the ice-cream sellers (who fall in the category of the tortured people on earth). The more the sale the more they suffer under the scorching sun to sell a few ice cream cones and often to those who do not need it, people who sit inside in the luxury of their air-conditioned car. It is only logical that the seller needs it more than the buyer, but that’s another matter.
With due respect for others, ‘Saadoun’ is one of the best man I met from the Ministry of Interior. He told me everything is changing and developing in the world. We are part of it. Naturally, we are going to cope with the changes, except for the ice-cream cart everything has changed in Kuwait over the past half a century and this has happened without a study, or law and or regulations governing the work and shape.
Initially it was a box shaped cart somehow attached to a bicycle. It has been developed so that the same box is now installed on a motorcycle. The bicycle remained as it is, the motorcycle moved to the motorways while the bicycle is doing business in residential areas often causing traffic block.
Saadoun says, he noticed that most, if not all, of those who engage in the sale of ice-cream on bicycles are elderly and of a specific Arab nationality. Almost all of them appear to have been affected by the harsh weather due to heat and waiting for hours in open areas — entrances and exits of residential areas and highways.
Surprisingly, many of them are not only selling ice-cream, but they also sell drinking water, juices, milk, potato bags and even fireworks during holidays.
The work of these men must be organized and issued with special work identities and there is a need to follow their health condition and even threat to security if any. It is not known what diseases they may carry or what is the condition of their health in which they work.
The security aspect related to their work, which we may not know, or notice must be taken into account. Also, we do not know how the left over frozen items are stored when they return them to the company or are they left in the wornout box and frozen again the next day.
It is also necessary to prevent the use of bicycles, motorcycles and dirty old boxes for the sale of frozen and other foodstuffs. There are beautiful ice-cream carts that can be ordered by dairy companies, and they are definitely better and more beautiful in appearance, and more convenient to store and deliver than bicycles. Each seller must have a valid medical identification card, with strict instructions on how to dispose of their remaining unsold items.
This profession, among dozens of others, can be performed by the Kuwaiti retirees, then the expatriate, if the first wanted to, after the provision of beautiful vehicles, such as in America, for example. Now is the time for the Interior and Health ministries and the Kuwait Municipality to organize this profession before the next summer.