Source: Times of Zambia
SHE is a regular presence on the streets of Freedom Way in Lusaka begging for alms from well-wishers. She is blind and describes her life as painful and full of strife.

This is the plight of Ms Albertina Mwewa,who feels society has rejected her and other blind beggars on the streets and have been relegated to an abyss where they are considered a nuisance.

She has been begging for alms on the streets since 2009 and positions herself strategically in the middle of the pavement near a named Bank making people meander around her to find there way in on the busy streets of Lusaka

This is her daily routine and instead of expecting money sometimes she receives disparagement from those who are opposed to alms giving while at times she gets something to "buy bread' from well wishers with a good gesture towards the vulnerable in society.

Ms Mwewa cannot recall when she was born neither does she know her age, but assumes that it must have been around 1959 but that her parents were illiterate and she too is not schooled.

She says that time when she was born there were no proper records keeping so she does not know her birthday.

"No one has ever assisted me neither my relatives nor the church where I congregate, my life has always been one of pain and strife." she said in an interview.

Her family only manages to have a meal in the evenings after she has left town with a bit of money she could have gathered from the alms she gets.

Really Ms Mwewa life and that of her family is dependant on the good will extended to her by a few passers by who may feel compelled to drop some money into her palms.

On a dry day she may even go home with nothing and that means no meal for her household.

Ms Mwewa who is a grandparent and currently looking after her seven grandchildren perches herself strategically at a place where everyone can easily see her and most important where her grandchildren can also see spot on those coming in and going out of the Bank.

No wonder she is perched so close to the entrance of the named bank because then she is assured of getting something.

It common beliefs that people go to the bank to either deposit money or withdraw and so for Ms Mwewa it's a game of chance.

She says she was born in Malanga village in Samfya District Luapula Province in a family of six comprising three boys and three girls.

Her parents told her that she was born with sight which she lost at the age of three after suffering from a 'mysterious illness.'

Due to her blindness she never went to school and instead got married at a very tender age to a fellow blind man with whom she had seven children.

She laments that of her seven off-springs which comprised five boys and two girls only three are still alive, the rest have perished and therefore that has even increased her misery.

"I have lost four children who used to help me with my daily needs, perhaps if they were still alive I would not be here begging on the streets," she said.

As if that is not enough trouble to add to her list of woes, Ms Mwewa is facing the odds of life all alone having divorced her polygamous husband who went and married another woman with sight.

This brought about problems in her marriage, prompting her to leave her husband in 2003.

Despite that, Ms Mwewa said that she values education and does not want her surviving kids to be failures in life so she has encouraged them to get educated as illiteracy only breeds poverty and she is a living example herself.

"I know when my children complete their education the lifestyle for the entire family will change for the better as opposed to the way things are now," she said.

Her son just completed grade twelve, another one sat for his grade nine examinations last year and is awaiting results to go to grade ten but the mother sadly talks about one daughter who despite making it to grade 10 last year never went to school due to lack of money to pay fees and acquire other school needs.

"My daughter is just languishing in the compound despite being intelligent. You can imagine even these little ones (her orphaned grandchildren) can not go to school, it is sad," Ms Mwewa said, as she received money from a passer-by.

Her deceased children left her with eight grandchildren whose ages range from four to eight with the oldest grandchildren taking turns by her side to receive alms.

None of them go to school though the eight-year-old reached grade three but dropped out.

It is a widely held view by many Zambians that those begging for alms on the streets are lazy and are only interested in making fast money which they do not even work for.

"I do not have the money to give you besides you people will go home with more money than I." A well dressed lady retorts to a little boy begging on behalf of another blind woman sitting in the same pavement as Ms Mwewa.

The lady's companion with a bag of food shouts across to her friend (probably to ensure that she is heard) why don't these people just go back to their villages?

After the ladies had gone Ms Mwewa patiently answers the question posed by the woman, without explaining that she used to live in the village and even did some farming.

Ms Mwewa said the farming bit was not viable for her because after consuming most of the produce the left-overs which she sold thereafter was not profitable enough to sustain her family financially.

"I came back to Lusaka in the year 2009 because I could not manage to support my family with the small income from the farming project," she said.

Initially when they started begging along the corridors, people turned out to be hostile and they could be chased from the vicinity of the Bank but that things have now changed a bit.

Amazingly during the interview another blind woman walks towards Ms Mwewa inquiring if everything was well adding that all the beggars on the streets consider each other as a family and help each other out whenever possible.

Living with seven dependants in a two roomed house in Misisi Township is not an easy feat especially if those dependants are male and female.

"I pay K100, 000 as rent which may sound little but sometimes it is hard to come by, we are lucky to have an understanding landlord," she said.

Ms Mwewa confessed that the family has been evicted before by landlords when they failed to settle rental on time.

Ms Mwewa's main challenge which she is currently facing is how to educate her three children.

If she could be helped in that area then at least her burden could be lifted.

She says the Government should not be totally castigated but should be encouraged to intensify its efforts and monitor the organisations which are mandated to help the vulnerable in society to ensure that the money meant for them reaches them.

"I would like someone to help me educate my children. I cannot manage alone because the burden is too much. I am now old and will not continue to have the energy to beg," She says

Ms Mwewa perhaps has a point when she laments that she feels neglected by her own relatives who should have been helping her, a plight being experienced by many blind grand parents out there who have resorted to begging, leaving their pride scarred.

Perhaps the worst part about the situation is the many children who miss out on education while helping their mothers to beg for alms on the streets.

"It is a tragedy when one stops to imagine as to where these children will be after a decade, with their grandmothers gone," she said.

As she spoke Ms Mwewa turned the other way as if to challenge the passers-by and daring them to look at her and answer that question.

 

• Zambia