#beggarman

She sat on a grubby piece of cloth on the sidewalk, her legs stretched out in front of her. A little scruffy child played by her side.
When I got to her I asked her if she was sick.
"Yes, I am very sick. I have malaria." In broken English, a half smile played on her face, her eyes averted to the ground, almost like she was flirting with the dirty pavement.
"Oh, you have malaria."
Silence. A loud silence that asks you to open your purse and take out money to give her.
"You do NOT look like you have malaria!"
"I have." She said "haff".
"Oh, okay. Now, get up and go and look for something to do so that you get the money to treat your illness. And get that child off the street as well! Let me see your arms, and your legs. Look at you, are you lame? Get your lazy self to do something worthwhile, and stop inconveniencing the child, and everybody passing by you, making eyes at them, whining and looking pitiful. Get up you!!!"

That is how fed up I am with non-genuine beggars. Or should I call them fake beggars? If you were old, or crippled then maybe, just maybe.

But you find an able-bodied young person, lounging on the street and telling you or motioning to you with their hands, that they have not eaten, and need something really bad.
There's an old guy who I meet everyday. He is so slumped over that he cannot keep his back straight. He spends hours leaning onto his belongings which are packed in a green plastic bag. When the rain comes, it drenches him. When the sun shines, it beats down on him so cruelly that his once grey hair is now brown. Now, that is someone who needs help. I gave him a hearty lunch one day, and he really enjoyed it.

I have seen a number of Karimojong women and children in Owino market, sifting grain. They are employed to pick the dirties out of groundnuts, beans, maize grains etc.
But then there are those who camp on the street, with a pair of twins, bony little things, laid out on a dirty cloth by their side…

It might not be their fault that they are on the street but why make children suffer?