Introduction
Many Holy Scriptures recommend giving alms and helping the needy. It is even a moral principle to reach out to those in need. All this is good to lighten or support one’s conscience, except that the practice has created addicts who have made the principle a profession that, on good days, is profitable. It’s easy to do the job. It starts by wearing rags, playing by playing on your handicap, knowing how to attract the pity and sympathy of passers-by or better yet, using children to make money. This is called begging. For the passion of the profession and the stock market, all you need is a good location, no pride, and the day is won. Long live begging. Doesn’t this bother anyone?
Development
The dawn has barely given way to the new day when, without seeing the rays of the sun, we can observe men sitting along the sidewalks of certain arteries of the city of Lomé. Just as conscientious as workers can be, they start working at their posts early to ensure daily subsistence. They are waiting for their customers, or at least passers-by. Valiant benefactors who have a hand in their hearts and money to spend. On their makeshift mats or rugs, they say prayers to the sovereign master of heaven so that the day will be gracious. On their faces, one cannot read any discomfort, as if this were normal. This is true in a certain way since they can boast of practicing a trade, or rather, a profession. That is begging. Apart from the rain, which can thwart their plans, nothing else can. They have parades against the sun, which, if we are to believe the savings from the heat strokes, With an umbrella, or, prostrate under parasols, they are sheltered from any excess of the divine star. We can consider this category of beggars as “immobile” since, in the exercise of the profession, diversity is necessary; we also find the “mobile” and the “experts.”.
The Art of Begging
Above all, we must not believe that there is no promotion of gender and the valorization of women in this profession. Formerly the preserve of men, begging has recently recruited female staff, and it is quite simply that female practitioners are holding their own. They are found equally well in all categories. They are accompanied by children who are responsible for reaching out to passers-by. The image of a child stretching out his hand to seek pity is more touching and saddening than that of adults; children are the second weapon used by many beggars. The first weapon is knowing how to introduce yourself. To do this, you need to know how to use your attributes. Disability is the most emphasized factor. Thus, being blind or having a lack of motor skills is an asset, or rather, an excuse to show up at intersections to extend your hand. An adage says that “the habit does not make the monk, but it is through the habit that we recognize the monk.”. So nothing is left to chance. You have to wear rags to assume your status as a beggar. This is where those playing in the “Mobile” categories excel and this is also where children come into play. In addition to staying alongside their parents, guardians or caregivers, at red lights and different work points, the children are responsible for guiding those who have vision problems to wander the markets in search of generous donors. An attitude that Mr. Soumaïla B deplores. He says he hates the fact that people use the naivety of children to lead them to beg in the streets and in the markets. These children, according to him, must go to school or at worst be put into apprenticeship. In Togo, the government has introduced free school fees to allow children to attend school. It’s a shame that people don’t want to work and lead children to miss out on life. So I never give when these kinds of people come to me, he retorted.
For Issifou, people should stop using Islam to hide in begging. Islam, he explains, does not tell its followers to go begging instead of working. And if someone comes to him to beg, he asks him to come and do some work to give him money in return. People, according to him, only take advantage of becoming expert in the art of begging.
The scam at your fingertips
Obviously, experts are found everywhere and begging is not spared. “We call Experts, those who, in good health, catch people in the street to tell them absurd stories in order to extract money from them.” This is what women resellers at the Grand Marché revealed. Emilie, a baby clothes seller, said that they are often accosted by people who will play pity and say that they haven’t eaten for three days and to help them by giving them something. Others say that they are porters at the market and that their employers have not paid them, some walk around with prescriptions but all this is false. For example, she said that a girl had come to play deaf at the market and collected money from people. In the evening, it was with a Khôm (fermented corn paste) seller that she was seen fighting big fish with other customers. When a lady recognized her as the deaf girl in the morning, she denied the facts and ran away. Since then she hasn’t come around anymore.”
Her colleague, Essévinô, recounted her misadventure with a gentleman who approached her one evening as she was going down from the market. the unfortunate man would have begged him, arguing that he had just been released from prison and that he had nothing to return home to Adétikopé. Essévinô couldn’t help but feel pity, and gave him a thousand francs (1000 fr). Three days later, she said she came across the character with the same small bag that he was holding the time before and this time, it was a prescription that he presented to her. She felt shocked and I asked her, so you didn’t get out of prison today? The gentleman took his clicks and clacks and just continued on his way.
The story is quite different at Bella, a reseller of women’s bags, she shared her experience with an amputee who does his collecting in the vicinity of the Administrative District and who is used to taking a post in front of the General Management cash register of the Electric Energy Company of Togo. She said she found herself at break to eat Fufu (pounded yam paste) not far from the prefecture. When the gentleman came and made his order, even the officials of the Togolese Revenue Office don’t eat like that. We were all speechless when he gave change to two people in front of us. Since then I no longer lose myself in feeling sorry for those who beg.
The slight discomfort caused
While many agree that everyone does what they want with their life and earns their bread, others question whether they should let go of the points occupied by the beggars. According to Cynthia, what bothers her is to see such a phenomenon being tolerated in the French, like the one in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We can understand, she says, that we can let the practice go around mosques as is the case in Agoè-Zongo or behind the BTCI. Because it has become a landmark where people say they go to make sacrifices. But accepting that blind and disabled people beg at the doors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not decent. The image is not good for our country’s diplomacy.
The opinion is shared by Albert D., a resident of the Agbalépédo district, who criticizes the same fact at the Carrefour GTA-Agoè-Agbalépédo. Doesn’t it bother anyone, he protests, that right in front of the alley leading to the Presidency, we can see women begging with children. This is not good for the image of the country, nor for the discourse on social policy and especially not with the efforts made by the Head of State, His Excellency Faure Gnassingbé. We must remedy this.
Conclusion
Invitation to opinion leaders
More and more initiatives are being undertaken to encourage populations to create income-generating activities, to be able to support themselves and their loved ones. Far from saying that reaching out or asking for help is dehumanizing, it would be very useful to get everyone to abandon the baseness of working as a beggar. Opinion leaders are to be invited to lead this battle which, beyond promoting the emancipation of many people, will restore value and integrity to practitioners, just as it will clean up our cities. While waiting for voices to be raised to regulate the phenomenon, begging still has a bright future ahead of it, to the point of becoming professional. Who knows, the embarrassment not being visible with the smiles, perhaps we will soon see the Association of Beggars of Togo, carried on the baptismal font.
