[FACING NEEDS EVERYWHERE YOU GO]
For a few weeks now we haven’t been able to do a proper grocery shopping. With that I mean a shopping that will last you for the whole week. Our favorite shop (a cheap Mega shop) is all the way at the other side of town, and we just don’t find time to go there. As a result we are doing little shopping’s here and there, just trying to get by until we get time to do a big shopping again. In the meanwhile, the shelf with the school snacks of the kids has been going emptier and emptier. So on Tuesday I didn’t have any other choice but to go and buy some snacks for them.
After my classes I quickly rushed into a random shop. My eyes are paining me when I see the prices for the snacks, especially that I know that in our Mega store these things are so much cheaper. But…the kids really needed to eat something at school. So I make my calculations and try to get exactly enough snacks until Friday. As soon as I am out of the shop, a boy (must have been around 14 years old) approaches me and asks me if I can please buy him bread. While he is saying it, he rubs his hands over his tummy and puts on those sad big eyes that look like “Puss” from the movie “Puss in boots”.
“As soon as I am out of the shop, a boy approaches me and asks for bread”
My initial response is, “No”. I hear myself rumbling something like, “I don’t know your background, it’s not good to bag on the streets, you are a big man, you should start doing something with your hands, I can not give you money”. When I am done talking I take a deep breath, hoping he got the message. Instead the boy just looks at me and says again, “meme, I am really hungry. I just want to eat something and go home”. I took another deep breath, felt compassion for him and decided to take some interest in the boy. He said his name was Joshua. “Whauw, Joshua, that is a powerful name! Do you know the Joshua in the Bible? He is very brave, and a generation changer. Would you want to be generation changer?” We continued talking and he shared he is in grade 8 and that it is school holiday now and that they are really struggling at home. I was able to share some encouragements, telling him that his life doesn’t have to be like this. That if he works hard and does the right thing, he will be able to get above his current circumstances. I told him he is still young and looking good. He couldn’t hide a smile when I said that last part.
“Meme, I am really hungry, I just want to eat and go home”
When I started to run out of words I told him, “You know what, these snacks were meant for my kids to go to school. How about we share them?” Joshua nodded is head. And so he took 2 of my well calculated 6 banana’s, 2 packs of my 4 well calculated chips packs and 2 boxes of my well calculated smarties. When done he voluntarily helped me to put the rest of my groceries in the car. We said our goodbye’s and I drove off.
You know, living in a country like Namibia you will always find at least one person that asks you for either food or money. They look at your bags of groceries while you come out of the shop and while you shake your head to tell them no. Or they already do their shopping and you find them at the cashier, asking if you can please pay for them. Or they knock on your window at the traffic light, just when you thought you finally made it without anyone asking you anything. There was a time that I really tried to help everyone (mostly kids) whenever they would ask. Never with money, but at least with something for the stomach. Then there was a time that it started to make me really angry and where I would say no every single time. “Can I never just walk from the shop to the car without feeling guilty and obligated to help?!” Than I would long for my home country and dream away about not having to face this every single day.
“There was a time where it really made me angry, every time someone would ask me for food or money”
Currently I am somewhere in the middle, whereby sometimes I help and sometimes I don’t. In these cases I think the most important thing is to make people not feel like trash and to at least show some kind of humanity to them. Listen a bit to their story, try to encourage them and make them feel like “someone” by trying to give compliments or making jokes. If someone is wearing red socks with completely teared up shoes, I will tell them that I love the color of their socks. If they say they love singing, I tell them they should teach me how to sing . Yes, I know that a lot (maybe most) beggars are probably hooked to some kind of substance. And yes, I know that most might make up stories or try to manipulate you. Me giving them bread doesn’t “solve” anything. At least I can find peace in the fact that through the different ministries we are doing, we actually are trying to tackle the problems by its roots. Trying to implement different mindsets in especially kids, trying to get them to school, teach them skills, and teach them to be a better parent hen their own parents. Trying to change generations…But yet, in these moments there is an immediate need. They remain people that are in need of love and an act of kindness.
“The most important thing is to not make people feel like trash”
So something simple as doing shopping is not always that simple when you are in missions. Your radars are constantly on, always trying to discern if the person you are talking to is honest, always trying to weigh in your mind if you should or shouldn’t help, and always wanting to do the right thing. I believe it’s part of why missions can be so intense sometimes, because a lot of the simple everyday things are really not always that simple. Anyways…it’s Thursday now. The kids snacks are once again finished. Today I will have to make another turn at the shop. Will I meet Joshua again?
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