This
morning I opened our main office door and a poor woman I'd never seen
before walked in. As soon as she saw me, she unrolled her tattered medical
prescription and began asking me to pay for the medicines. I told her I
didn't speak her language and she promptly asked me if Melissa (another
foreigner who does speak her dialect) was in. I indicated yes and off she
went, still clutching her prescription. She was going to try again.
A
few weeks ago two women, very nicely dressed and from the begging class,
knocked on our door. As soon as they saw us, they said "white people!" and
came in, sat down and insisted that we give them something.
Most
people in our part of town aren't very used to seeing foreigners at all.
As we walk down the street many children that see us, yell "whites!" and
rush up saying "Give me 5" (the equivalent of $0.02) or "Give me 20" or
"Give me 100". Needless to say, locals don’t usually get the same request.
Sitting
in front of the "western" style grocery stores are the most audacious
beggars in the whole city. If you are white, they pull your clothes, stand
in your way and tap on your car windows until you give them something – or
drive away.
A
while back, a woman came into our office with a boy and an x-ray. She said
that her son had swallowed a coin and that it was going to cost $80 for
surgery. She wanted us to help out. Upon cursory examination of the x-ray,
it was clearly a fake. A few months later, we saw the x-ray again – with a
different woman and a different boy.
Every day we need to decide
– to give or not to give. They know we are "rich" and it's true – we do
have the money. People here make it through hard times by going around to
their friends and family and "talking" for money. Lack of work, corruption
and injustice do not help people's financial situation. Yet Jesus says
that people, who won't work, shouldn't eat. He also says that if you don’t
give - you go to hell (direct quote). So can we give in a way that doesn't
foster a bad system? Or dependence? Or lies? Local people have had
experience with foreigners bailing them out. Does it matter that they
spent their whole paycheck on their cousin's extravagant wedding feast so
that their family would look good? Or, that they lost the job they managed
to get because they stole from their employer? These are not easy issues,
scripture goes both ways.
I
pile the children, our stuff, and myself into the backseat of a taxi. I'm
settling in to watch the scenery go by, as peaceably as possible with my
two little ones. The taxi driver starts up a conversation:
"Are you American or French?"
"American," I reply.
"Oh", he says, "America is a great
country".
"It has its positives and
negatives…" -- I can tell what's coming.
"I would really love to go to America.
There's lots of money there. Can you help me?"
