The Ethiopian Beggar

Ethiopia is the ultimate beggar-tourist destination. All beggars in the world should endevour to make that trip to Ethiopia to see how business is conducted. Of all beggars in this wide world that I have had the fortune to meet, the Ethiopian one stands in a class of his own. He is just as filthy as others in the business, and just as poor, but what makes him stand out is the fact that he seems to be always informed on the hottest markets year round. Now, in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, every day of the month is dedicated to some saint, and they celebrate most of them in some flamboyant way. They do not celebrate all the saints but the most notable ones in the church’s history, but that does not in any way mean that they degrade other saint’s. in Ethiopia, too, they name their different cathedrals after the different saints and that means that if today is Kidist Mariam (St Mary)’s day, they all flock to St Mary’s cathedral; if it is Kidus Yosef (St Joseph)’s, they still do the same. And these cathedrals may be located miles apart but people hire out taxis and buses to ferry them to the different locations. And who else would you least expect to be absent from there than the Ethiopian beggar: young and old, sturdy and sickly, beautiful and ugly, hungry and satisfied.

They line up the paths, streets and highways that lead to these holy places of worship and lay down their rags and wait for the faithful to come drop a coin on their mats, or rags. And Ethiopians come by their hundreds, with so much loose change to give them. They make sure that they get as much loose change in coins to give these hundreds of beggars and they drop them coins until they run out of the coins. Should they run out of coins, they get a bigger denomination, drop it at the nearest beggar and then take change! Imagine that! I drop a quarter and take back and dime! Such professionalism! Then they proceed to go pray. Ethiopians are so pious.

On the other hand, the beggar sits by his rag and patiently awaits a coin while at the same time uttering loud enough prayers for mercy while mentioning several saints and the Trinity, evoking that empathy that exists in the human nature. The beggars are not so pious.

Though I do not despise these beggars, there is a class of beggars that I do not wish existed. These are the ones that go around showing very ugly parts and deformations that are so vile. They show you diseases that would make you cringe, whatever that means! A missing limb, a missing eye, with a part that looks like it once belonged to an alien. And boy they make you feel so bad, showing wounds that would make a little kid run with fear to the end of the world. Anyways, it is not my business to classify these beggars, I have to leave them at that.