Charity and Me

No!! This is not a blog about girl on girl action, it about giving money…….. which for some might actually be worse.

It’s said that charity begins at home, and like most people I have always abided by the idea and believe that you should help those who cannot help themselves.

The problem, I have noticed on my part is that I am not the most charitable of people. I feel guilty when I see people on the road begging for money, looking ill, or children scratching at the car door asking for anything, but rarely does that translate to putting my hand into my pocket to bring out change and hand it over.

I’m also aware that my behaviour is not peculiar to me, many Nigerians are disinclined to give money to beggars in the street and even more see charity organisations as fraudulent enterprises.

Why is this? Why is it that in a country of 150 million people approximately, we see the act of charity as something abhorrent? After all our various churches, mosques and other religious text tells and promotes the idea of giving, and encourages us to do so whole heartedly.

The Bible talks about helping our fellow man in times of need by the giving of alms.

The Koran informs of the fact that as a rich man exists, so does a poor one, so the rich should give to the poor (I am paraphrasing so please forgive any irregularities in translation).

Other than this, basic human principle demands that we help each other in times of need, because you never know when you might need the help of others, but for many, charity begins and ends at home.

As usual, most of the thoughts that pass my mind, I discuss with a few friends, and on this occasion, the issue of charity, was the one being thrashed out.

During the discussion I realised that many of the prejudices I had heard in passing were obvious in my friends.

The first argument that always comes up is, why should I give money to someone who looks to have suffered a horrific burn, for all you know s/he got the burns from stealing and they threw a tyre over his head.

The next argument is, ‘s/he does not deserve my money’, after all I work all day and night to earn it, and they do nothing and ask for hand outs.

Another prejudice (there are a lot of them) that exists when talking about beggars and their needs is that there is an ‘influx’ of migrants who congregate in our cities. They are not from Nigeria, and as such, they must have been shipped in to beg for money so that it can be pooled for a ‘super beggar importer/ exporter’.

Whatever the person’s individual prejudice might be, be is one of the above, or all of them, or one not mentioned it helps in justifying the general lack of charity.

Now one would imagine that when looking at the role our conscience plays in regards to charity, it would tell us to give, instead it seems to do the opposite. When it comes to giving our conscience tells us that the reason the person with polio asks for money is because in their part of the country, they do not know better. Our conscience pricks us for this unjust and unfair development, but wouldn’t allow us to encourage such blatant lack of self improvement. Better they learn that not improving themselves and learning about vaccinations and general health care will leave them in this position.

Finally the sordid issue of the coin determines how much or if the average Nigerian can give. Most Nigerians do not have enough disposable income to give, this is glaringly obvious when one considers the fact that 90% of Nigerians are living on less than $1 a day. Also when it comes to money, the question of how much and if any should be given become the dilemma. The internal battle of if I give to everyone who begged for money, where would that leave me, and the not giving would ultimately make them better themselves, is never ending.

For me the issue of charity is a personal one, I would like to say that I give freely and without exception, but as I mentioned above this is not the case. My reason for not giving is two fold, the first part encompasses the above, and the second part is simply this.

For those who have all their limbs working and I would imagine a nominal amount of intelligence, it behoves me to give anything. They have the ability to go out and earn money by working, but are content it seems to ask for hand outs. I know that I could take the same position and beg for my day to day living, but my pride demands that I do better for myself and work, and I believe so should theirs.

Irrespective of our reasons for not giving, we should make the effort to find some charity in our heart. Maybe this can be done by finding a charity that uses money given to it wisely, or by doing something unexpected for someone.

An alternative to this could be doing something as simple as giving the child at the side of the road a packet of pure water to quench their thirst. Whatever is done, it should be done with a whole heart and with the knowledge that it is only by the grace of God we are not in a similar position.