'Begging is Better Than Stealing’

Begging is better than stealing, says Aruna Mani, a panhandler on the streets of Labasa.

The 53-year-old said there was no way for her to earn money and meet the required necessities of life.

She sits along the Main Street in Labasa.

“I am collecting money to buy wood so I can patch up the floor in my house,” she said as she watched someone drop a coin on the handkerchief spread next to her.

“The floor is rotten and fallen. I can see the earth below. I hope I can collect some money and buy the wood I need.

“I have to beg. There is no other way I can make money. I don’t steal, sell my body or lie to people.”

Ms Mani lives in Tabudola with her 19-year-old son. She said her husband abandoned her three months after marriage.

She said she survived on her own.

“My son is unable to find work and this makes things difficult for me. He has finished schooling and is now a certified welder,” she said.

“Hopefully when he finds work, my begging will stop.”

Ms Mani said she planted vegetables to help sustain life for her and the son.

She said she receives $30 a month from the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation and $50 food voucher.

She said begging was better than being involved in illegal acts.

Ajnita of Namara

Not far from the main street in Labasa is Namara, an informal settlement that has been there for more than a decade.

Ajnita, 23, lives there with her mother and two children. Her eldest child is six years old while her youngest is three months old.

“I ask people around town if they could spare some money. And I only do it to feed my children,” she said.

“My mother works three days a week as a housemaid and with what little she makes, we survive.

“There is money from Social Welfare, but it is not enough. The reality of life is that we eat one meal per day. If we get two, then it’s a feast.

“I have been abandoned by my husband, and I cannot work right now because my child is still very young and breastfeeding.

“My older boy does not go to school because I cannot afford his things for school and provide him with meals.

“How will he feel when other kids are opening their lunch parcels and he has nothing to show for it?”

Begging is fast becoming an issue in Labasa.

Charity organisations are doing what they can, however people need to get away from begging and start self-help projects or find employment, says Shalen Singh of Nasea Social and Charity Club.

“We need to empower people who beg with skills so that they can sustain themselves,” he said.

“It is a big problem. In some cases people are genuinely in need and in some cases people beg to feed their addiction.

“There is an elderly man who goes around town asking for money to buy his beer.”

Edited by Ranoba Baoa