Begging on Christmas

Peru has a high rate of people below the poverty range: 52% (under $58/month) and extreme poverty of 19% (under $32/month).
  One-fourth of children under five are malnourished.
  Many who live in the Andes Mountains come down the mountain to the port city of Lima to look for work.

  You will see the women and children in their layers of highland clothing sitting along the overpass of the highways holding a felt hat out hoping someone will drop a coin in.
  They usually sit like statues on the hard cement with another hat low over their eyes.
  Their children are either snug under some blankets next to them or running around nearby.
  Several times I’ve seen the same cute little dirty faced girl in braided pigtails go through the crowd with a cup thrust towards anyone she saw.
  It would seem that begging is done only by the women and girls. 
 

The day before Christmas, as people were out busy shopping, there were others out begging.
  They sat near the shopping centers and the overpasses, full of travelers, looking for coins from the shoppers.
  As we sat is Ricky’s home a woman knocked on the door and asked for clothes for the poor.
  Kelsey answered the door and asked us if we had any clothes to share.
  We had come to Peru with minimal clothes and couldn’t think of any we didn’t need so Kelsey got one of her 10 sole bills and gave it to the woman.
  A minute later, another knock came at the door and a child asked for toys.
  The maid answered that time and gave him a coin.
  We could hear the maids send others away. 
 

Giving to the poor is an unsettled dilemma for me.
  Do you want to encourage them to feed themselves that way or to do an honest bit of work for pay.
  To drop a sol (equivalent of 33 cents) in their hat could help them eat that day.
  Not having a car, we have adopted the Peruvian way of life of walking and catching buses to get where we need to go.
  That is where you see so many of these people.
  It is rare to see anyone else give these women coins, yet they sit there for hours waiting.  I spoke with a Peruvian friend, Carolina, who felt confident that it was unwise to give coins to beggers.  She felt that it is best to give them food if you felt you wanted to do something for them.  She worked for a non profit agency who tried to better the life of the poor by training them to work and have the additude they should work for a living.  She talked of how often children beg for others who take the money and give them a shabby place to stay or minimal food to eat.  Sometimes the children will buy drugs with the money.  We will listen to what the Lord wants us to do on an individual basis.  Often he nudges me to give them a coin and  sometimes to bring them some bread.  They are all his children.