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Dhaka Day by Day

To Give or not to Give

by Rashida Ahmad
Any newcomer to a city like Dhaka cannot fail to be moved by the sight of the child beggars who clamour for his or her attention the instant her/she sets foot outside the airport building. Their pleadings for foreign coins and pathetic, beseeching eyes are difficult to ignore. The pockets are checked for changes, before coming to the realisation that foreign coins won't be of any use to them. Even so it is difficult to deny their requests. When they start asking for T-shirts and jeans, however, it is time to get a taxil
It is at the time of driving along that the number of Dhaka’s destitutes become visible. Every street is lined with beggars. At every traffic light a lament is heard and an open palm is stretched towards you. The first instinct is to give to the needy. But recognising the impossibility of giving to every one soon results in giving to fewer and fewer, until finally it is all too easy to become insensitive to the plight of our fellow human beings.
But thl§ is natural. Human perception is such that what Is constantly presented to consciousness is eventually disregarded as peripheral. However there are other factors to consider in this "matter. These can be examined more closely by asking what it's like to live in a city so full of beggars. What is the typical Dhakaite's attitude towards them? What is the correct way to deal with them? Is there is fact a correct way to deal with them?
Once we attempt to answer some of these questions, however, the complexity of the matter becomes clear. For we find that there is no typical attitude. Every individual has his or her own pattern of giving alms and reasons for giving or not giving. One person will give only to the old and not to children wjio have their lives ahead of them and should be encouraged to find work Instead of begging. Another person might feel that it is children who are most needy.There are those who refuse to give to the cripples because they fear it may encourage deliberate mutilation of children. Some do not give at all claiming it does no good, whereas others give indiscriminately.
Then there is always the thought that those ^you giv? to are not the ones that actually bene-
fit. For organised crime is pervasive in this matter. Gang leaders send the children or adults they have'recruited to beg in the streets. At the end of the day their collections are snatched from them and they are fed the bare minimum that is required to survive. Quite , often children and those already maimed are beaten up for not collecting enough money.,
Given this abhorrent state of affairs, how is it possible to know whether the money given Is lining the pockets of the, criminals or not. Should the genuinely needy suffer because of the reluctance that ensues to give to any beggar? These questions howevei>6eg another important question. We must ask ourselves whether we ought to give to the needy at all.
This .question is often echoed on a larger scale by those asking whether international aid is effective. It is often argued that aid of any sort produces a negative effect by causing dependence and undermining self sufficiency. Or that aid given with well meaning intentions Is not utilised in the right way.
A parallel to this argument may be the complaints that the money given to the destitute is often spent on alcohol or drugs instead of food or clothes. But how many of us if we were in the same desperate circumstances would not take the easy way out into oblivion through intoxication? And is it not rather patronising to think you have the right, once the money has been given, to dictate how it should be spent? Do you really know what their best interests are? Either, give wholeheartedly or do not give at all.
There are of course those who do not give because they are simply miserly. But then again there are those who give blindly.
May be, it is pertinent here to acknowledge the guidance that Islam gives on the subject. The Koran not only advocates an alms-tax but urges again and again to 'be steadfast in prayer and regular in charity' and warns 'woe to those who make a show of piety and give no alms to the destitute: who are but victims of the social structure. However in the final analysis it must be said that it is upto each Individual's conscience and reason as to what they believe is the right way to give.