Oasis Damahana – Balangoda

Reported by: Lasantha Jayanath
Hundreds of beggars, both young and old, can be seen in our populour cities like Colombo, kandy and kurunegala. Thousands of  other beggars go from house to house in rural areas.

 They have taken to begging as they do not have homes any means of living and also as they do not have homes of their own. This situation has been arisen due to various factors prevailing in our society. Poverty, parental death and illness, loss of parental love and affection and loss of love and affection of their children are some of them. The number of beggars is increasing day by day.

 Most of the beggars are not disabled. Most of them are able bodied. They can earn money by doing some sort of work. But they beg because they are lazy. They think that begging is the easiest way of living.

 Sometimes, beggars become a nuisance to tourists. They drag after the tourists grumbling until they are given something.

 Beggars wear ragged clothes. Even children in the age group of
5 – 10 years can be seen begging. This is a very sad state of affairs. Most of these children have lost their parental love and affection. According to the Police, most of these children become criminals at the end.

 During the past few years several camps were established by the government for beggars. But they do nit like to live in these camps. So most of them have escaped from these camps.

 They walk under the scorching sun. they get wet in the rain. But these things do not affect their health.

 It is the bounden duty of the government to look into this burning problem and take steps to wipe out beggary. This can be done by setting up special homes for beggars. The government alone cannot solve this problem. All the social service associations and other voluntary organizations should extend their co – operation towards the government in this connection. Children who are engaged in begging should be schooled and taught a trade or vocation. The able bodied must be provided with some sort of employment. Laws should be passed to ban begging.