kriskotei

a kid Chad beggar on the loose

I wiped the sweat with the already soaked handkerchief I had in my hand as I alighted from the ‘trosky’ I boarded from Accra Central Lorry Park to Nima, a suburb of the Capital City, Accra.
I was returning to my office after rushing to the offices of Electricity Company of Ghana to pay reconnection fee to have access to electricity power, else I would sleep in darkness.
Just as I crossed the streets, a young man between 30 and 40 years called me back, greeted me politely and said “you’re the only person I see God in, I’ll tell you the truth, I’m hungry and I don’t want to ask anybody for money but you to fill my empty stomach”.
I’ve vowed not to give out money to beggars that I meet the streets based on past experiences but I pondered on his words and made away with the few coins I had on me.
I took a little time to reflect on past encounters I had with beggars who pretended to be stranded, they always came with stories like, “I came looking for someone and I didn’t meet him”, “I’m from Cote d’Ivoire looking for job but no luck yet”, “someone has robbed me of my purse and I have no money to pick a car home”, just to mention a few.
On many occasions, I fell victim to these self-styled-professional beggars, but none pained me more than this guy I’m going to talk about.
I was a schoolboy when this guy approached me that he would be frank with me, saying, “I was just released from the prison. I’ve no money to board a vehicle to my hometown, Asamankese (a village in the Eastern Region)”.
Naive as I was, I gave him the little money I had for my lunch and transportation back home, only to hear later on radio that convicts were given money for transportation to their various homes upon their release.
With this mistake, I made it a point not to give monies to people I met on the streets who tell me one story or the other.
Nevertheless, there are people with genuine stories to tell, but with the works of these habitual beggars who do not work rather and rather exploited people through some of this pretences, it is difficult to tell who is really stranded and who is not.
A food for thought I once listened to made me understand that God at times uses some of these means (beggars) to bless his people. So how do we tell when God comes knocking for alms with these constant beggars on the loose?
There are blessings in giving than receiving, says the Bible, but how about giving to the professional beggars that do not work and rather beg? Will that also attract God’s blessings?
For your information, the gentleman who recited, “You’re the only person I see God in” is also one of the daily beggars on the streets. I have run into him several times and any time I see him, I help him to recite his well-rehearsed quote, “You’re the only person I see God in!”
Stay blessed!