On Solicitors

Another Friday.

About a week ago I happened to be in Makanjira, Mangochi for work. Good, historic and interesting site, it is. Probably one of those sites you should visit if you drive a nice twin-cab (moni moni anthu nonse amene mumayendera ma twin-cab).

Anyway. That is not important and the same is the case with what I was doing there. It is what happened there that I would like us to have a discussion around. Discussion.

Soon as we got out of our mobility device some little kid, around 10 years or so to my guessing showed up. He has a speech problem taking it from the way he was speaking, but his intentions were clear taking it from the gesture of the open palm; he was looking for alms. Too bad for him I did not have anything I could give him which I tried to communicate nicely. My communication fell on a deaf ear and kid continued to follow. He only turned back when I got to the office I was to work in that day where the “locals” chased the kid away.

In the office I was greeted by a story about the same kid. It was told by my female colleague of mine who had been threatened by the same kid on a previous visit because she was not able to help the kid out with the money that he had “demanded”.

I am not a good storyteller, but I hope what I have shared here relates to at least five situations you have encountered if you live in one of the Malawian towns. Once in a while we meet a person asking for assistance on the streets and occasionally some take it to our doorstep. For every person who has some humanity in them, this situation poses as a challenge as it presents a dilemma; whether to help or not. Actually, that is justified because while some people who ask for help, there are some who do not. A greater proportion of people asking for alms in our towns do that because that is their trade. Actually people have made a profession out of it and have perfected it to an extent that the unsuspecting (if there are any) will end up sympathizing with them.

Adding to that, we have people living with various disabilities who are in our towns asking for alms; ranging from the guy skillfully playing his stringed musical instrument around Chayamba Building to the person moving with a little squire asking for food in the restaurants and chips stands (kuziwaya kuja, inu). And then we have those who sit outside our shops asking for our change.

The fact that at some point many of us do have to think twice before fishing out a note or a coin means that there is something off about the whole business of soliciting money in our streets. Naturally the Malawian culture teaches us to be friendly, hospitable and generous but it turns out some have built up skills aimed at abusing these gestures. The interesting thing is that for almost every interaction between a solicitor (ine zonena kuti beggar ayi) and a potential well wisher, one person gets disadvantaged. It is either someone who needs help doesn’t get it or some unsuspecting good Samaritan gets duped and ends up giving out money he could have used to buy 100 megabytes of a TNM Nite Shift bundle.

If we take a moment to disregard the people who ask for our resources because they are in actual need (ndipo alipo ochepa) we will discover that we are financing the wrong industry in town by giving our “bundle money” and change to these professionals. As I already said, some of these have made a career out of this and have defined routes they go everyday just to pry on this trade. Others have built houses and established businesses at the expense of the good Samaritans who finance them.

One might think that I am biased as I haven’t talked on the issue of those with disabilities and vulnerable people like orphans who have been forced to the streets because of their situation. Well. That is not a different situation but just another side of the same rusty coin, in my view. In as much as there are no good support systems for our vulnerable populations, I personally think that people have little if any justification for resorting to soliciting in the streets.

Unlike all the other articles I write here (where I am the know it all and have all the answers, the all wise and mighty Richie), I don’t think I have all the answers to this, and that is why I will throw it to the readership. Before I throw the questions, I will give you a couple of situations and I am pretty sure you have encountered a couple of similar situations.

I have once seen the kids who go begging for money at the Ginnery corner Chipiku shop (he was probably around 10-12 by age) engage in a dangerous fight with a guard. There has been a case where people have fought over a “soliciting spot” at Metro in Zomba. I have also heard a first-hand account of a woman who was threatened for and was almost beat up by four kids around the same age group or younger for not giving them the money they had asked for. Main point is that some of these people can get violent and can recite the swearing dictionary when they feel like.

I have seen people (there is a boy about my age and two women who linger around Ginnery Corner, beware) who go asking for money; telling the same (or different versions of the same) story to me right in Blantyre. I have heard of a situation where people found these guys bragging of how much they had made in that particular day in Lilongwe.

On the other side, I once helped a guy who was looking for food as he had been called unexpectedly to be a guardian of a patient at a district hospital only to be referred to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. After a lengthy questioning he got my K250 and I forgot about it. What was striking was that he ran to me to thank me and before he told me that he had eaten the nsima he needed, I got it from the aroma of  the bonya that was all over him.

The question remains. Tidzitani nawo anthuwa?

Should we be giving them our money? What if they are the pro’s who just want to get our hard earned money without any sweat (anyway, with a little sweat)? If we say we shouldn’t, how about those who are in need? What about those with disabilities?

Share your insights on the Richie Online Facebook page. Right here.