Today's Beggars: Begging For Fun?

These days, beggars are seen almost everywhere. They beg anyone they can see nicely dressed around them. Some of them are believed to have been abandoned by relatives or their relatives have passed on. Others are also believed to have been affected by natural disasters while the rest are thought to be mentally ill people. While I may agree with some of these claims, it cannot be entirely true that all the family members of an individual will just abandon them for no reason. Some of them are believed to be the cause of their marginalization. If you trace relatives of some of these beggars, you will get to know that some are very stubborn. Some families have actually tried very hard to get their relatives off the streets but to no avail.

Some beggars are richer than some of the people they beg. Begging is now a business. It is even annoying when these beggars make people who don’t give them something feel and look bad in the public eye.

Yes, it is religiously wise to help the poor and marginalized. It is true that some struggle to get even water to drink. But it is not right for them to make you feel stingy for not giving them money without knowing if you have it or not. Some beggars have made begging a fashion. Today's beggars are not like those described in religious books. They hardly go to restaurants and homes to beg for food, water, clothing or shelter. They are just after the cash!

When I visited Accra in 2006, I heard a story of how one popular beggar, through begging, put up a compound house and rented it out but was still in the business of begging. Begging has become the dream of most disabled people in society. They are quick to play ‘vulnerable’ and ‘marginalized’ in society.

However, in reality, most are not qualified to be in that bracket at all. Begging has become the new ‘normal’ these days in markets and places of worship. Some are without any disability at all. They just felt marginalized and therefore qualified themselves to be by their own standards. There is even a belief among certain tribes of northern Ghana where any woman who ‘mistakenly’ gets a blessing of giving birth to twins or triplets, qualifies to go into the streets and beg. They claim the innocent babies want them to beg!

I have also heard of how some beggars are agents of the devil. Believe it or not, it is a reality. Some are on the streets to trap innocent souls and destroy. They will use whatever you give them to make your life miserable. So, the next time you engage in works of charity, try to pray over your gifts and seek direction so that your intentions would not amount to filling a porous pot with water.

 Leave your comments below.