A big dilemma for a Grahamstonian is often: should we give to beggars or not? One of our acquired traits includes being able to spot a beggar a mile away.
It is often easy to see someone who wants something from you from quite a distance, and then a mild form of the fight or flight mechanism kicks in.
A big dilemma for a Grahamstonian is often: should we give to beggars or not? One of our acquired traits includes being able to spot a beggar a mile away.
It is often easy to see someone who wants something from you from quite a distance, and then a mild form of the fight or flight mechanism kicks in.
We can do an about-turn and walk in the opposite direction, tell them to buzz off, try to avoid them by crossing the street or by walking faster, which usually doesn’t work.
But once they have you in their sights, you are history. There is bound to be a confrontation of some sort which will either end up with them getting what they want at your expense or you just walking on and feeling either uncomfortable, annoyed or guilty.
There are a lot of poor people in South Africa and it is hard to see people in this state and not feel sorry for them. The only problem is that the persistent, brazen beggars that bother people in the street are not
a good representation of really poor and struggling people.
There are usually just a handful (or armful in Grahamstown) of artful dodgers, trying their luck and banking on people’s consciences and guilt for a few bob.
Quite a few of them are like the London street urchins in Dickens’ novels, so by giving them money, we perpetuate the problem by encouraging them with an incentive to carry on begging, instead of thinking of ways to better themselves and either go to school or make it on their own.
They also divert our attention from the true poverty around us, for example the people who scratch around in dustbins and rubbish bags, and the real down-and-outs who stay in the townships and are too shy or weak to venture out into town.
I have very rarely been asked for something by people scavenging in bins, and these are the people I prefer to give something to because they are probably really hungry and more likely to buy food with the money we give them.
But the problem is that in this world people who ask are more likely to get, and the really poor are often afraid or ashamed to beg as opposed to their more high-spirited and thicker skinned counterparts who make their living out of asking, or rather, demanding.
Maybe when we see someone in a bad way and our heart really feels for them of its own accord, for example, someone elderly scratching in a bin, minding their own business and not asking for anything, we could stop for a minute and see if we have a few rand inside our wallets (or even better nip inside a shop and buy them some milk, bread or bananas), or if we see someone struggling to walk, we could stop and give them a lift.
And then, we can just walk on when we are confronted by those demanding beggars, and tell them we don’t have anything for them, without any guilt, knowing that we are really doing the genuinely needy a favour at the end of the day.
And just maybe if there is a corporate refraining of giving money, the beggars will get the message after a while and start to think creatively of ways to sustain themselves by doing something useful.
We could possibly even stop to talk to them and give them ideas on what to do, if we happen to have any. We could turn the tables and surprise them.
I don’t think they will know what to say then, but I am sure they will think about it. Geoffrey Embling is a Maths teacher at Mary Waters High School.
