One problem with giving money in a poor society is that it becomes the reason people come to you. Money is something everyone wants, so everyone will come, and everyone will want to be your friend. But not everyone wants Jesus. A woman came and asked to be friends with me, she said she had another white friend who used to buy her jewellery and nice things, but she’s gone back to Italy now, so can I be her friend? My purpose here is not to give people money, although I did come here to be generous. But what does that mean? Generous with what? Me, God, and the people around me, probably all have different ideas about how and with what I should be generous. Generous with smiles, with prayers, with attempts at relationship… sometimes this is received, sometimes rejected… God says “Freely you have received, freely give.” And He’s talking about healing, deliverance, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God…
Another problem is that there is never enough. I give to one, but he returns the next day with ten of his friends. Then there is the culture of begging. Each person asks for a gift with their hands open. Literally person after person after person – blind man, crippled man, woman with baby, small child, old woman. Waiting at intersections is awful – people with cars have money, they have to sit still in traffic, these are the hot spots for begging. Many boys with bowls will come. If they have a bowl, they have been sent from their local religious leader to get what they can and bring it back to him. Donated to the religious leader by their family to ‘please God’, they are sent every day to the streets to beg, in between being taught their religious texts. It is necessary in that religion to give to the poor – so people do give, but in these situations the boys are not the recipients, and they weren’t destined for poverty, it was forced upon them by depravity from those entrusted to care for them. The other day I met a boy who was truly hungry. He came up to me with no bowl and no “cadeau” hands, his arms on his head looking at me. I knew I needed to give him something. But as I was next to my car the policeman who minds the carparks shooed him away. I got in my car and turned around, as I pulled up to the road I saw him again out my passenger window. I wound it down and passed him an orange. He looked distraught and was beginning to cry. I asked, are you ok, he said “J’ai pas mangé…” (I haven’t eaten) and I could tell he was feeling completely helpless, starving. I quickly pulled apart my bags to pass him something else, all I could get was a carrot, and I had to drive on. His words are etched in my mind. I went home and cried and we decided I would try to find him again with some proper food, and ask him what his situation was – why hadn’t he eaten, if it was a situational problem I would meet him twice a week to give him food and befriend him. I looked and looked, but alas he could not be found again. The following morning driving to school I became angry when I saw the beggars. I don’t know why. Probably because so many aren’t genuine, and it means the ones who are, miss out. Begging is more like the career they’ve been programmed into, and they do well enough from it not to find another alternative. That may seem crass – but it’s true. There are others that are just as poor, but they have found a cart to push to earn a coin for the day. They think my kids are very cute. So cute in fact, that one of the beggar girls gave Belle the money that she’d just obtained from begging. Does someone that desperate give money to a white girl cos she’s cute? No. A man came running up to me, please give me something, I’m hungry. The white man always has plenty. I offered him a carrot. He looked annoyed and asked for money instead, naming the amount. I said no, you said you were hungry, so obviously you’re not. Within half an hour I walked down the street again, and immediately as he saw me, a boy came up to me asking me for a gift. This boy had a baguette filled with meat, half in his hand and half stuffed in his face. Seriously. But I’m aware that anger signals a need for me to forgive – forgive them for not knowing any better, forgive their parents for teaching them this lifestyle, forgive them for taking when they don’t need and letting others go unhelped, forgive them for judging my worth as monetary. Lord help us. We need discernment, wisdom, compassion, generosity, kindness.
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So friends are asking how different life is here compared with home.
On Saturday we had to tell our Saturday night guard that we couldn’t increase his pay any more than we already had, so he quit. I had wanted to go to the pool with the family but it was the president’s inauguration so all the hotels were booked and busy (where the pools are) and all the roads in town were blocked. On Sunday we had coke for communion. When I had to leave early from the service cos the kids were so tired and fidgety after being in there for 3 hours, they asked from up the front why we were leaving and if we were offended. The kids wake all night from power cuts or being thirsty or sick or bad dreams. They make sure they are up in time to have 10 mins with our guard before he leaves at 7am. Belle opens the gate for him and waves goodbye yelling out her little French farewells, then comes inside singing because she just loves him so much. This morning it took me 1.5 hours to get the kids to kinder because there had been a crash on the bridge and people don’t move the ‘crime scene’ until the police have come to do an inspection. As soon as I get out of the car as I drop off the kids, a myriad of beggars surround me to ask for ‘cadeaus’ (gifts). I try to work out who to acknowledge, who to ignore, who to give a banana to. I take the long way home because last week I got bogged in the sandy road and had 10 men helping dig me out for half an hour. I get home to find Brad making yogurt inside, because it is hot enough inside our house now to make yogurt…. Seriously!? I feel sorry for the four kittens sitting beside our porch because their eyes are glued shut with gunk, so when the mumma cat goes off to find food, I get some warm salty water and pick the gunk out of their eyes so they can see, while Brad reads me a devotion. I come to our room and put the air con on to do some Fulfulde study before my lesson starts in an hour, but my brain doesn’t want to learn today and then the power cuts out so it’s hot again in seconds. A lady is coming this afternoon to make me a dress. I’m defrosting some leaf stew to eat with rice for lunch. These are some every day differences of the last three days… if this is the stuff that interests you I’m happy to write some more!! |
AuthorWe are Brad, Andy, Hunter and Belle. Hoping to keep you connected! Archives
May 2019
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