Personal Glimpses into our Life and Ministry in Tanzania

By: Beth Calmes

I cannot drive anywhere in Dar es Salaam without encountering beggars at my car window — not anywhere… ever. There is a smoldering stress resulting from this part of my life in Tanzania, and I am not alone. Every driver I talk to is frustrated by the continued increase of beggars on our streets. The Tanzanian government has told the beggars to go home and has informed motorists that they will be fined if they give money. The beggars have not gone home!

In our infamous Dar traffic I can sit for many long minutes as sad, persuasive faces are smushed on my window, with hands persistently knocking on the same window in hopes of gaining my attention and, more importantly, my money. These are mothers in rags carrying infants, small children who should be in school, people with a wide variety of disabilities, drug addicts and more. It’s tragically pitiful. I feel conflicted between a heart to help and a head that knows much of this begging is rooted in con-artistry and pimping.

Begging is a conversation I have with fellow drivers that always “begs” the question, “What is a godly response to the beggars among us?” I’ve lived in Tanzania for nearly 22 years and still have not found a wholly satisfying answer, neither have my fellow drivers. We’ve given discriminately (to the disabled only) and indiscriminately (to one and all), We’ve ignored, we’ve given small bags of peanuts, cookies, and bottles of water. We’ve counseled through our windows — one time I tried that with a 10-11 year old boy who then punched me in the head (he hurt both my head and pride). He didn’t want advice, he wanted money and drugs. I stopped window counseling after that.

Here are some hard facts. Parents force their children to beg. “Agents” bring children to Dar to beg. The parents get some money; the agents get the rest. There are”beggar” tribes who encourage their people to beg, it’s part of their culture. School children beg for a hobby on the weekend, donning their worst clothes and practicing pathetic expressions which are very convincing to even the most cynical.

It’s easy to feel cynicism towards a beggar one day and then to feel complete compassion on a little 6-year-old beggar the next day. This tension creates a smoldering, daily stress that slowly wears you down and begins to burn you out.  Jesus, however, told us to give to those that beg from us (Matt 5:42); he came to preach the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18). He loved beggars, he still does. Beggars are an almost daily occurrence in my life. I cannot ignore the question of how to help them, while also not breaking the law and feeding the monster. My current answer is to pass out small bags of peanuts. Funnily enough, the peanuts frustrate the beggars. They still ask for money; few say thank you for the peanuts.

The harsh realities of the beggars’ lives still bugs me and giving peanuts kind of feels like a “peanuts” solution to a massive social issue, but maybe that’s okay. I do not want to harden myself to the beggar, right now peanuts keep me from crossing that line from love over to callousness and unkindness. That is a place I do not want to go. So I sit in traffic, hand out my peanuts, and keep praying that Christ will teach me to show his love to the beggars around me, the love he extended to them while on earth. After all, we were all spiritual beggars in great need of a great gift, which he offers us freely– salvation of the soul. Thank God, he offers us all so much more than peanuts.