Kano’s physically challenged persons seek alternatives to begging

Malam Isa Mai Goshi is a member of a Kano based civil society organization that deals with the reduction of street begging. He said policies were made towards either reducing street begging or eradicating it completely, but in most instances, these policies were either abandoned half way or were initially formulated without a concrete plan […]

Malam Isa Mai Goshi is a member of a Kano based civil society organization that deals with the reduction of street begging. He said policies were made towards either reducing street begging or eradicating it completely, but in most instances, these policies were either abandoned half way or were initially formulated without a concrete plan for implementation.

However, a retired social worker with the Kano State Social Welfare, Isa Bala Unguwa Uku, said who beggars are categorized into two; those who resort to street begging because they are lazy and cannot engage in any productive activity and those who were physically challenged. Unguwa Uku added that, the physically challenged beggars were the ones that were viewed as beggars by authorities concerned with street begging.

With that, some of the physically challenged people see their condition as a clear and valid reason for begging, some did not view it in that same perspective though.

Malam Muhammadu Sani Hamza Dandan, is a blind man from Sumaila Local Government in Kano state. Though blind, he is gainfully employed as a tailor who trains other physically challenged people at the famous Mariri Rehabilitation Centre in Kano. Though he was not born blind, Dandan became blind while growing up. According to Dandan, he has been blind for over 28 years.

Malam Dandan told Pyramid Trust that as a tailor, he did some menial jobs and was operating a grinding machine before he became blind mysteriously. He said being blind did not make him resort to begging as he is a staunch believer in the adage which says “God loves to help he who strives to help himself.” According to him, he sees begging as an act of self degradation that assassinates ones character and therefore, it is a no go zone for him.

“I do not buy the idea of resorting to begging simply because I am blind. Being blind does not mean you are not able. I was a tailor when I had my sight, and I am still a tailor now that I have lost my sight to a mysterious illness. You can only be disabled when you believe you are not able. I thank God that I am able,” stressed Dandan.

Apart from earning a living as a professional tailor and a civil servant, Malam Dandan can repair sewing machines, an ability he claimed he couldn’t perform even when he had his eye sight.

“Besides being a tailor and an instructor, I can also repair sewing machines and manual spaghetti rolling machine. That is why you will notice that some people refer to me as engineer. Ask around and you will be told. In a day I repair a lot of sewing machines and the manual spaghetti rolling machine and that complements the salary I earn as a civil servant.

“You see, self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one’s own person is its ultimate reward. I do not go out on the streets to beg, my prayers have always been to be self-reliant and I thank God that I am now,” Malam Dandan stated.

Malam Sani Danda is married to two wives and has 12 children. Implores other physically challenged people to always bear in mind that they also can be productive in whatever way they have chosen for themselves. He stressed that, poverty breeds lack of self reliance and that the more they hit the streets begging, the more they lose the will power to be self-reliant.

Similarly, Auwalu Yusif is a 17 year old crippled mechanic and also a secondary school student who believes that he “Yusif reaffirmed his willingness to pursue his education to the highest level.

“I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I am determined to make it by myself, and not by begging, God’s willing. Even with my deformity I can’t go out on the street begging like others. I strongly believe that whatever situation one finds himself in, God has a purpose for that,” said Yusif.

Yusif further stated that he was motivated by one journalist who happens to be a cripple like him. According to him, the sight of that female journalist strengthened his believe in being self-reliant.

“I was moved by her situation, she is a cripple like me but she is only crippled physically and not mentally. Though physically challenged, that did not stop her from being a journalist,” he said.

However, Auwal confirmed that, now he has nothing to worry about as he can take care of his daily needs and supplement his parent’s efforts to pay for his school fees. For Yusif, hitting the streets to beg sounds as strange as Latin language, because he sees no gain in doing that.