Media Missionary Focus

Beggers, Videos and Me

Yesterday, while I was running some errands at one of the larger markets in town I once again found myself in an uncomfortable, but familiar situation. I had a few errands to run yesterday, one of which took me to the Russian market. It's one of the larger and better know markets in town and was actually built with money from the former Soviet Union at a time when Cambodia was one of the many small communist client states of the former super power. So it's old and a bit run down looking. The construction is also somewhat shoddy and features poor drainage, broken up and uneven cement floors, and a low tin roof that turns the market into an hot and steamy oven by the afternoon. It covers the better part of a large city block and contains everything from hardware and jewelry stalls to souvenir shops to open air vegetable and meat sellers, so it also can be a real shock to your sense of smell at times. Then you figure in a congested, crowded and almost claustrophobic feel and you have the basic layout. The people who populate this landscape are even more varied than it's shops; there are the aggressive and rough mannered stall vendors calling out to you as you walk through, most major aisle intersections have an amputee from the war or two selling books to foreigners, tourist of every type can be seen, from somewhat disheveled and grungy backpackers to well dressed business men and women, barefoot children in dusty ragged clothes follow along behind any white face they see, fanning them with pieces of stray cardboard, hoping for a tip, and beggars of every description slowly grouping around any foreigner who stops in one place for long. This is where I was when the discomfort set in. It all has to do with balance.

Cambodia is undoubtedly one of the poorest countries in Asia, and even though I am just a missionary, a job not known for it’s high salary, I am still very rich in comparison. Whenever I go to a market here I am always approached by beggars, but yesterday seemed to be one of those days when there were an unusually large number of beggars at the market, and by the time I was finished with what I was doing there I must have been approached by between 6 and 10 different ones.

Most new visitors to Cambodia feel compassion for these beggars and will almost always give them some money. However, while they may be giving with the best of intentions, it is also one of the worst things you can do. That’s not just me and my opinion talking; it’s the view of almost every missions agency and relief organization working here. Why? Well, let me give you an real life example.

A few years ago an organization came in to help amputees to make a living. They set up a trade school and promised any amputee who signed up that they would provide food, clothing and shelter for them and their family throughout the training, and at the completion of the course they would guarantee them a job starting at a salary of at least $50 per month (good money at the time). But they couldn’t get any of the amputee beggars to sign up! They said they were making more money begging! Many of them had nice homes and families, and each morning they would change into their grubby old uniform, take off their prosthetic limb, and head down to the market to beg. Now I’m not wanting to imply that there are no real needs. But I do want you to understand that 9 time out of 10 giving them a handout of money actually makes their long term problems worse.

I’ve lived here long enough (more than 11 years) to know that, so typically I just tell beggars no and move on. The problem I am having isn’t one of action, it’s one of heart. Yesterday, after turning down numerous beggars in a very short period of time, I realized I had started ignoring them not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

In the gospels you will see time and time again that it says Jesus was “moved with compassion” and healed, or touched, or fed or taught the people. He acted out of love and compassion for the people around him. But how about me? More often than not, when beggars approach me I am more moved by annoyance than by compassion. Again, like my last posting, it’s more a question of motives than actions.

Very often people think that God calls people to be missionaries to use them to accomplish His plan and His will in a particular country. I’m not sure that’s the main point. Too often it seems that God accomplishes His plan and will in a country in spite of the missionaries there, not because of them. I believe that part of God’s call does have to do with His desire to use us in a particular place or situation, but more than that I believe God calls people to be missionaries in order to accomplish His plan and will in their own lives! It seems to me that the Bible is pretty clear; God isn’t as interested in what we do as He is in who we are.

So my discomfort yesterday with the beggars was really sparked by my realization that as I was looking at the people around me I was no longer being “moved with compassion.” I was uncomfortable with what I had allowed my heart to become.

So what is the right way to help those who are needy around us? For me, one way we are doing it has to do with why I went to the market in the first place. I was picking up blank DVD’s for a project I am working on producing a video to help raise support for an orphanage and a Christian school in the southern Cambodian city of Sihanoukeville. This orphanage is home to about 120 kids, but it is facing a potential funding crisis in the next few months. The video we produced for it’s director will help to raise the money it needs to continue ministering to, and transforming the lives of children who truly have nothing. That’s the right way to help the needy; not a one time hand out to make your conscience feel better, but long term, life changing help that transforms lives.

So today I am praying for balance. To not only have the right actions, but to have a heart that sees people through the eyes of Jesus and is moved by compassion into action.

posted by Troy In Cambodia @ 9:46 AM