I met a poor woman by the beach in Muizenberg. She did not look well, with a shaved head covered by a hat and some blush brightening the tops of her pale cheeks. She carried a large, plastic handbag on her back like a backpack, and stopped me to ask if I would buy something off of her. She was desperate, and so tired. She is a diabetic and had nothing to eat all day. She didn't want to just beg, so she was trying to sell some things to help provide for her, for her daughter, and for her two grandchildren, ages 10 and 1. She had some government money, but that all went to paying for a place to live. I told her I didn't really need anything, but she could show me what she had if she wanted to. I sat down and she began to pull things out of her bag: an old book from 1953 with a little bit of everything in it--recipes, a dictionary, pet-care, etc.. Another old book of anecdotes that smelled like cigarette smoke. A recipe book. A Silhouette romance novel--with two pages missing, she informed me, but it was still very good. A video game. A small frilly skirt, also smelling strongly of cigarette smoke. In between, I asked her how her diabetes was and told her I am also a diabetic. I asked about her family, but apparently it is only her, her daughter, and the two children living together. She showed me a picture of the one-year-old. I gave her my time because I had little else to give her, except for 20 rand in my pocket. I asked her what she would be willing to part with for 20 rand. Well, she told me that 20 rand was only a start, and you can't get much for that (true), though she wouldn't mind me blessing her with it.
I never know what to say to that! I don't know how to respond to the increasing amounts of homeless people I see. And what is a couple rand here and there? Still, none of her stuff was worth more than that (in my opinion... I am still trying to gauge the value of currency here in terms of what people earn and spend!). I could just give it to her, too, since I had just spent more than that on ice cream! Yet I can't handle giving hand-outs, because it doesn't really address any of the root issues. Sure, they need food today, but in the long run hand-outs can dehumanize, create dependency, and not actually help. I know I have never been on the street and hungry, either, though. What to do? ... Though as I have been thinking about this in relation to how one friend of mine would give money to poor people on the street, I have concluded that I would rather give the hand-outs to organizations in the country who help people like that than to give it directly. They can hopefully create a longer-term solution for these people. But what does that mean for me RIGHT NOW?
Anyways, I sat there thinking about this, not sure what to do next since I didn't have enough to buy something from her and it felt dumb to say 'sorry, I'll just pray for you and you can go away' since she knew I had the 20 rand now, and yet I didn't feel right about just giving it to her (especially since she herself had already said that she hated asking for money and that is why she was trying to sell a few things)... Then she pulled a DVD out of her bag: "Hope for Cities Johannesburg with Mark Finley: 16. Revelation's Last Appeal" and said I could have it for 20 rand. I gratefully performed the exchange, and asked her if I could pray with her before we parted ways, and what would she like me to pray for? She gladly agreed, and asked me to pray for safety in getting back home, and I feel bad that I can't remember the rest... I prayed for safety, for health for her family and herself as a diabetic, for community and people to walk alongside them and help them, and that they would know God's hope and grace. Somehow it came out that she lived around Rondebosch, so I told her she should find Jubilee Community Church and they had programs where they could probably help her. I hope she takes me up on that and checks it out.
And hopefully she will find more than she bargains for! As I see the poverty and need, my prayer is increasingly that God will give these people a vision of something bigger than the moment. It must be so hard to see what life could be when one is surrounded by images and cycles of need, poor choices, and abuse. I pray that they would catch a glimpse of how God intended life to be, and that He would lead them into new paths.
I never know what to say to that! I don't know how to respond to the increasing amounts of homeless people I see. And what is a couple rand here and there? Still, none of her stuff was worth more than that (in my opinion... I am still trying to gauge the value of currency here in terms of what people earn and spend!). I could just give it to her, too, since I had just spent more than that on ice cream! Yet I can't handle giving hand-outs, because it doesn't really address any of the root issues. Sure, they need food today, but in the long run hand-outs can dehumanize, create dependency, and not actually help. I know I have never been on the street and hungry, either, though. What to do? ... Though as I have been thinking about this in relation to how one friend of mine would give money to poor people on the street, I have concluded that I would rather give the hand-outs to organizations in the country who help people like that than to give it directly. They can hopefully create a longer-term solution for these people. But what does that mean for me RIGHT NOW?
Anyways, I sat there thinking about this, not sure what to do next since I didn't have enough to buy something from her and it felt dumb to say 'sorry, I'll just pray for you and you can go away' since she knew I had the 20 rand now, and yet I didn't feel right about just giving it to her (especially since she herself had already said that she hated asking for money and that is why she was trying to sell a few things)... Then she pulled a DVD out of her bag: "Hope for Cities Johannesburg with Mark Finley: 16. Revelation's Last Appeal" and said I could have it for 20 rand. I gratefully performed the exchange, and asked her if I could pray with her before we parted ways, and what would she like me to pray for? She gladly agreed, and asked me to pray for safety in getting back home, and I feel bad that I can't remember the rest... I prayed for safety, for health for her family and herself as a diabetic, for community and people to walk alongside them and help them, and that they would know God's hope and grace. Somehow it came out that she lived around Rondebosch, so I told her she should find Jubilee Community Church and they had programs where they could probably help her. I hope she takes me up on that and checks it out.
And hopefully she will find more than she bargains for! As I see the poverty and need, my prayer is increasingly that God will give these people a vision of something bigger than the moment. It must be so hard to see what life could be when one is surrounded by images and cycles of need, poor choices, and abuse. I pray that they would catch a glimpse of how God intended life to be, and that He would lead them into new paths.
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