"Feral pigeon nuisance is a common problem in many cities around the
world. Feral pigeons are not afraid of people. They roost and nest
readily in man- made structures and have a diverse diet. The droppings
of feral pigeons may help spreading harmful germs"
In Hong Kong, one can get a penalty for feeding the pigeons roughly $1500.
That is the case for pigeons but translate it into the streets of Kampala and it is the street children. Today, I boiled two eggs and gave them to a hunger stricken little guy on one of the hills of Kampala. I just had to give him those eggs but he didn't eat!!! I knew he wanted money so he was in for a long wait before he could finally eat his eggs.
Every time, I want to pick money out of my pocket, I remember my friend who always tells me,''stop feeding the pigeons if you want a clean city" turns out the analogy of pigeons is what is suffering the city of Kampala.
Let me first put out a disclaimer: I am a very compassionate person, I love people and I do charity.
But let us see our reality for a few minutes, the little children that beg on our streets suffer our hearts and our compassion but also are the true definition of what is wrong with Uganda.
If you are going to help a person, do more than give them a coin a day. In our need for validation and a check on our christian or Muslim values, we give money to the poor and pay zakat respectively. But what if in what we are doing we have nursed out a begging syndrome? We keep on giving the street children money and have created for them a living in that way, they will keep festering our streets and soon enough they will grow old enough to sniff fuel and collect plastic bottles and when the lucrative part of that job is worn out, they will go into organized crime. And lo and behold! we would have been part of the making of the feared Kifeesi and other crime gangs in Uganda.
So don't feed the pigeons if you don't want your city to be dirty, The other day, I saw a mother let her baby do number two by the road side and after she got some papers, pick it up and threw on a growing dump of waste that was made by them. I thought of how dry it would be soon and how the wind will blow the seemingly cleared feaces into the air, then when the wind comes I will come and breath that air or even have the dust on my face. Ewww.
The downside of this development is that while we have street children,we do not have the mechanisms and the safe nets to take care of them. And as we all know, "some lady ate their money." We all know that the street children are of karimajong descent.
That aside, while these children go through traumatized childhoods, rape and pregnancies of men that are questionable in character, we continue to keep them on the roads by giving them miniature bites of silver and gold coins just to keep them going on. We have not equipped them with systems to rehabilitate them, empower them and take them off the streets.
What we could do as a society, is build shelters and rehabilitation centers separate from drugs abuser homes. Homes to rehabilitate street children. Most of these children, their greatest problem is a run away syndrome and hunger. They need to be taken off the streets! I dream of a day when I take a taxi, or uber I don't want someone wiping the windows with a dirty rag just for a coin.
I guess we all need to stop giving the street children money then they will be gone off the streets.
In Hong Kong, one can get a penalty for feeding the pigeons roughly $1500.
That is the case for pigeons but translate it into the streets of Kampala and it is the street children. Today, I boiled two eggs and gave them to a hunger stricken little guy on one of the hills of Kampala. I just had to give him those eggs but he didn't eat!!! I knew he wanted money so he was in for a long wait before he could finally eat his eggs.
Every time, I want to pick money out of my pocket, I remember my friend who always tells me,''stop feeding the pigeons if you want a clean city" turns out the analogy of pigeons is what is suffering the city of Kampala.
Let me first put out a disclaimer: I am a very compassionate person, I love people and I do charity.
But let us see our reality for a few minutes, the little children that beg on our streets suffer our hearts and our compassion but also are the true definition of what is wrong with Uganda.
If you are going to help a person, do more than give them a coin a day. In our need for validation and a check on our christian or Muslim values, we give money to the poor and pay zakat respectively. But what if in what we are doing we have nursed out a begging syndrome? We keep on giving the street children money and have created for them a living in that way, they will keep festering our streets and soon enough they will grow old enough to sniff fuel and collect plastic bottles and when the lucrative part of that job is worn out, they will go into organized crime. And lo and behold! we would have been part of the making of the feared Kifeesi and other crime gangs in Uganda.
So don't feed the pigeons if you don't want your city to be dirty, The other day, I saw a mother let her baby do number two by the road side and after she got some papers, pick it up and threw on a growing dump of waste that was made by them. I thought of how dry it would be soon and how the wind will blow the seemingly cleared feaces into the air, then when the wind comes I will come and breath that air or even have the dust on my face. Ewww.
The downside of this development is that while we have street children,we do not have the mechanisms and the safe nets to take care of them. And as we all know, "some lady ate their money." We all know that the street children are of karimajong descent.
That aside, while these children go through traumatized childhoods, rape and pregnancies of men that are questionable in character, we continue to keep them on the roads by giving them miniature bites of silver and gold coins just to keep them going on. We have not equipped them with systems to rehabilitate them, empower them and take them off the streets.
What we could do as a society, is build shelters and rehabilitation centers separate from drugs abuser homes. Homes to rehabilitate street children. Most of these children, their greatest problem is a run away syndrome and hunger. They need to be taken off the streets! I dream of a day when I take a taxi, or uber I don't want someone wiping the windows with a dirty rag just for a coin.
I guess we all need to stop giving the street children money then they will be gone off the streets.
