Who are the needy? The term refers to those individuals or groups of people who require support, material or immaterial, to meet their basic needs or improve their well – being. People in the parks, the homeless and drug addicts all look up to you for help. Do not turn a blind eye on them.
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Matthew 8:20 says that foxes have holes, and birds of the air have their nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Some people may think that being homeless is a choice, therefore display a lot of negativity towards the homeless. Since homeless is such a broad term, l will dwell on youths of school -going age who are homeless.
It is heart-breaking to see children of school -going age in the parks basking in the sun, while their age mates are at school. It is very painful to see them chasing after cars in an effort to make money. You would swallow a tear as you see them on empty stomachs lying on pavements. You would often see one or two combing trash bins as they scavenge for leftovers.
How did such a beautiful soul end up in the streets? Where are the two people who brought this suffering soul to mother earth?
These are two of the many sobering questions that are stimulated by the plight of homelessness and suffering of children. My major concern is their future. These children face numberless limitations to accessing education. Like strangers they watch education pass them by. Even if they were to join school they would face unbearable discrimination and stigmatisation. Without access to quality education and training how will they develop life skills by which to face their future with hope? Most, if not all of them, have neither identification document nor residential address. The latter further hinders them from accessing consistent quality help from registered organisations or civil society.
Deuteronomy 15:11 says; For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, l command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in land.
Will these children ever say ‘ home sweet home ‘ l wonder! There is a saying that goes ” A home is where the heart is.” What kind of home is theirs? Theirs is a home without walls, a home without food, clothing or health care.
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Such environment does not qualify to be called a home. No child can grow and develop under such conditions. Study is totally impossible out there in the chilly winter nights and wet rainy days. Those cardboard and scrap metal shelters they call home, fall short of the definition of a home. Will the number of the homeless in our communities ever reduce? What can be done to alleviate the suffering undergone by these children?
