text to text: Rebels Of The Kasbah

The story I am reading is called Rebels Of The Kasbah by Joe O' Neil. It is about a 10 year old slave boy named Tariq. He gets kidnapped from an orphanage in Tangier. He gets taken to a slave auction where he becomes friends with a boy named Aseem. He is purchased as a slave by the Caid. He then gets transferred to Caid's palace via Caravan. He also gets put with 2 more slaves, One a English girl and the other named Fez who is a small little boy. They travel 3 days of Desert until they reach Caids palace to be Camel Jockeys.
 I think that I can relate because It can be More hot than 110 degrees in Arizona while Tariq deals with 110 degrees in the Saharan desert. It can also get very hot and the characters got dehydrated much like many people in Arizona. I think that in this book the slaves aren't really like the slaves in the Civil War because slaves could gain respect and become free unlike in the Civil War. in some Countries in Africa Slavery still exists too.
   I still don't get why the Caid would get children to win his Camel races. Why didn't Tariq and Aseem escape while they could? Why would Caid keep his elderly slaves if they aren't eligible to race in a camel race?