EDITOR, The Tribune.
Please allow letters concerning politicians to take a backseat, if only this one time, as this issue I am about to address deserves prominence. I am growing increasingly disturbed and frustrated by the number of children I see begging for money on our streets, particularly in our inner city communities.
On Tuesday, June 17, as I sat in early evening traffic through Gibbs Corner, I glanced over at a little girl, who had to be no more than eight. She was barefoot, a bit dishevelled and sitting on a rock.
I gave her a quick smile. She took my demeanour as an invitation, immediately approached my car, exchanged pleasantries and asked me if I could assist her with some money so that she could get something to eat. I hesitated. Not because I didn’t want to give her the money, but because I could not believe her request.
It was the third such request I had got from a child in less than two weeks. I asked her when she last ate and she replied “yesterday morning”. I had absolutely no reason to disbelieve her.
I asked her where her mother was and she told me that she, too, was out begging for money to buy food because she could not find a job. I went a step further and asked her where she would get food from and she replied “the Chinese”.
I went into my glove compartment and sporadically glanced at her eager eyes as she waited to see what I would give her. After I gave her the money, she thanked me and left. I peered in my rearview mirror and watched her thin frame disappear towards a restaurant, presumably to buy food.
My heart broke as she walked away. Sadly, she is not the first child through Gibbs Corner to solicit funds from me and I doubt she will not be the last as I have repeatedly been approached by desperate children living in this area.
It pains me to think that a child would be out on the streets begging for money to buy something so fundamental as food. I could only imagine the state of desperation one must be in to beg for something so basic. As I sat in my car I started to mentally reprimand the parent who would allow his/her daughter to beg strangers for money.
I started to rationalise that that parent was setting his/her daughter up to be abducted or raped. Almost immediately, though, something inside quietly urged me not to judge. Anyone of us, myself included, could be placed in a similar situation. It is God’s grace that keeps us.
This child, and children like her, are sobering reminders of the current state of affairs in our nation. I read the papers every day and see the startling statistics relating to poverty, but nothing drives the point home more than actually staring at a little human being in her eyes and seeing it up close.
Situations like these are the symptoms of a much bigger issue. We are all familiar with those issues, so there is no need for me to harp on them.
In this letter, you will hear no appeal to our politicians or the government. I simply want to bring awareness to this disturbing problem and appeal to those parents to do everything in their power to keep their children safe.
Do not allow your children to beg in the streets. Seek assistance the proper way. I also want to appeal to the public to – when possible – be their brother’s keeper.
As I write this, I am contemplating ways in which I can help to make things right. I don’t want to see any child begging for food and I certainly don’t want to pick up the newspaper and hear that a child was abducted or killed.
Children are innocent, precious creatures. It is so easy for a predator to lure them with food, candy or toys. A fed child might resist; a starving one might give in.
I pray to God that He will continue to blanket The Bahamas with His favour so our economy will turn around. Kids should be begging for Christmas toys ... not money for food on a busy street corner.
ROGAN SMITH
Nassau,
June 18, 2014.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID