‘Businesspeople should stop helping street children’

Businesspeople have been asked to stop giving alms to street children in Malawi as it encourages them to remain on the streets.

Blantyre district social welfare officer Dominic Misomali said this at a meeting his office organised with different stakeholders in the city.

“If you have noted, our streets are flooded with beggars, especially children, on Fridays because some businesspeople give them alms on this day. In fact, some children run away from their homes to get the alms,” he said.

Misomali said this is making their work of ridding the streets of children difficult and he asked the businesspeople to find another way of helping needy people.

Chileka Police station officer Martin Gulula agreed with Misomali that alms are encouraging children to remain on the streets.

“These children beg during the day and at night, they sleep under bridges. If they remain on the street, they grow up into ruthless thieves because of the harsh environment they are subjected to,” he said.

The meeting has since agreed to meet people plying their businesses in Blantyre and Limbe to find a way of helping the needy without necessarily encouraging them to remain on the streets.—Mana