City women suffer at the hands of rude beggars

It was the case for one Angela Oketch, a city resident.

One evening at around 5pm as she left work, she took her usual route to the Bus Station. Being a rush hour, long queues of other city residents done with their daily work were already forming.

Ms Oketch joined the queue to await her turn to board a bus home. This could have just been another normal day for her but something unusual happened.

In between the long wait, she decided to buy sweets from a hawker. A beggar who was asking for money from other pedestrians saw this as an opportunity and rushed over to Ms Oketch.

“As I removed Sh10 to buy the sweets, a woman came to where I was. This woman was not dressed in dirty clothes and did not look unkempt. In fact, I would never have pegged her as a beggar,” Ms Oketch said.

The woman went ahead to ask Ms Oketch to give her Sh10 so that she could also buy something to eat.

“I told her that the ten shillings was the only money I had at the moment and I did not have anything else to give her. Then she answered me saying how come I can afford to buy sweets but I can’t give her money for food. I did not respond,” she said.

The woman went on to badger Ms Oketch. “I am talking to you, either give me the money for food or give me the sweets,” dared the woman.

This is the day Ms Oketch discovered that beggars can be choosers.

“I gave her one of the sweets I had. Surprisingly she threw it back at me. Then she told me that I was demeaning her by giving her sweets when I have money to give her for food. The woman started to create a scene until the touts at the Bus Station had to chase her away,” recalled Ms Oketch.

Approached me

“This is very common at bus stations the moment you tell a beggar you do not have any money to give them they start hurling insults at you. They tell you things like ‘you are now well-groomed but you never know what tomorrow holds’ so they insist that you give them money so that they can also look good,” she added.

The experience left Ms Oketch in shock and apprehensive whenever she encounters a beggar along the streets of Nairobi.

Hope Wavinya is another Nairobian who had a not so pleasant experience with beggars in the city.

“I met a decently dressed man on my way to the bus station near Roasters. This man approached me and politely asked me if I could buy him a packet of maize flour to take home to his family. He said he lost the only job he had and now he does not have any means of feeding his family,” Ms Wavinya said.

This was last year when Covid-19 had hit the country and with the strict measures put in place by the government to help mitigate the spread of the disease, a lot of Kenyans had lost their jobs.

Ms Wavinya was touched by the man’s plight and decided to offer the little help she could.

“I went to the nearest shop and bought a packet of maize flour, bread and milk and gave them to him. But my act of kindness was not enough for him. He then asked me why I can’t add the shopping list to include cooking oil and other items,” Ms Wavinya said.

Notorious

“I told him to either take what I was able to buy or I would take it myself. He took the package mumbling some not so pleasant things to me. He did not even say thank you.”

For starters, the Central Business District (CBD) has become the playground for beggars who have become quite aggressive in their trade.

Streets like Moi Avenue around archives, and Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street junction are notorious for this new crop of city beggars.

But it’s not just women who are beleaguered by the menacing street urchins.

“I am one of the people who dread going to Naivas Supermarket (at the intersection of Kenyatta and Moi avenues) because walking out is a nightmare. You are usually accosted by hawkers and beggars. And it is even worse if you have bought food,” said Ken Mwakio.

“I remember just recently a beggar who was a grown man came to ask me for money. I told him I did not have any money. He responded saying ‘umevaa viatu kali kumbe huna pesa (how come you are clad in designer shoes without money)?’ And they pester you as you walk, making you feel uncomfortable,” explained Mr Mwakio.

But it is not only the aggressive kind that is found in the city. There is also a new breed who are smart and work through manipulating people’s emotions.

“On Kenyatta Avenue, there is a young man who holds a lot of papers in his hands. He will stop you and ask you to help him with the fare to go back home to Kisii. Because he, apparently, had come to Nairobi for a job interview and he only had a one-way ticket. I knew I had been conned when I saw the same guy the next day peddling the same lie to another innocent victim,” Juliet Njoki recalled.

“And then there is this elderly guy who wears a suit and carries a bag. He would hound you to give him bus fare,” added Ms Njoki.

This is the reason why she says a good number of city residents may seem like heartless people when it comes to sharing their coins with the less fortunate.