Almsgiving

20.07.2009

Over the years in Pakistan I have often walked through the market area in the centre of Karachi known as Saddar. It is a place of hustle and bustle, street vendors, shops, buses, loud noise and the smell of savoury food mingling with exhaust fumes from the traffic.

As I would pass by the many small restaurants known as, 'hotels' I would always see a line of poor, ragged people sitting on the pavement outside. 'Who are these people and what are they waiting for?' I thought, as I passed by.

One day I was curious enough to go inside and ask the owner of the restaurant, who the people were and why they were waiting outside. "They are poor, hungry people with no money for food. They wait here until someone gives Kherat (alms), and then we feed them a plate of curry and two pieces of bread. "How much does one meal cost?" I asked. The owner replied, "25 rupees."

Giving alms is an important part of a Muslim's life and is one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith. Indeed all religions consider giving alms to the poor a means of drawing us closer to God. So in the dusty, dirty and noisy streets of Karachi I was deeply touched by seeing people's faith in action. For example, a passer-by would simply walk into the small restaurant and give a hundred rupees for the poor. Then the restaurant owner would cry out, "Four plates!" And outside four hungry people would look up with anticipation on their faces and were given a plate of meat curry and bread - maybe their only meal for the day.

On one occasion when walking by the restaurant I stopped to talk to two boys in ragged clothes who were about to eat their meal. I asked them, "Where do you come from, where do you live?" They had very little Pakistani language but could tell me,  "We are ghareeb (poor). We have come from Afghanistan because in Afghanistan there is boom boom, bang bang! A dangerous place."

I could see by the dirt on their faces they were homeless. Just children forced from their homeland having to survive by living on the streets of Karachi. "There are an estimated 10,000 street children in Karachi. Some work in the streets and go back to their families at the end of the day, whilst homeless boys live in gangs of 10 or more kids and sleep in filthy sewage pipes, open parks or bus stations" - (UNICEF - Pakistan 2008).

As I looked at the two boys crouched down beside their plates of food in the middle of the dirt of a busy road.

I thought to myself, "This would make a powerful photograph." But before I reached for my camera.

I realized how these boys were about to share in the simplicity and sacredness of a meal together and that they deserved privacy and respect. Anyhow the memory of that meeting will remain fresh in my heart for a long time.

 
Fr Paul McMahon has been a missionary in Sindh, Pakistan for many years.