Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together; and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.—Luke 6.38, KJV
Never will I forget the day when I came across a beggar at a traffic light as I walked along January 15th Avenue in Lome, Tago. I was so moved with compassion that I stopped right in front of him. I didn’t usually engage in conversations with beggars; I usually gave them money and then moved on. But that day something was different. I asked Moussa Baba (the name he gave me) a lot of questions. He spoke English but none of the native dialects of Togo. Later, he told me that he had been hit by a motorbike four months earlier. A traditional “medical” practitioner gave Moussa Baba treatment in the form of a massage, having no idea that he had sustained a thigh bone fracture when the motorbike hit him. Now, with no more capacity to earn a livelihood, Moussa Baba had sent his wife and twins back to his village in Nigeria. He remained in Lome begging for alms.
A month later, I underwent a surgery and wasn’t able to physically give the beggar money for his treatments. When I left the hospital, I sent money with someone, asking that they look for him, but they couldn’t find him at his usual place. Moussa Baba was later spotted at a place in Zongo, another neighborhood. I provided him with enough money to go to an emergency ward. There an x-ray revealed that he needed his limb amputated. The operation would cost 800,000 West African CFA francs (about 1,200 euros or 1,300 US dollars).
My surgery cost more, but I understood what Moussa Baba was going through. For about a week, my mother and I prayed in order to raise the amount needed for my surgery. God answered our prayers when my godfather sent me one million CFA francs (equivalent to 1,500 euros or 1,680 US dollars) to help defray my surgery expenses. We both had our surgeries and today he can move around like any other person. Before he left for his country, I shared Jesus with him in our last conversation.
There are many out there waiting for a demonstration of God’s love towards them. Let us always ask the Lord to lead us to the needy. He will provide the means Himself while creating the opportunity for us to share His love with others.
Mamata Sassou
First published in Carolyn Rathbun Sutton, ed., In His Presence (Silver Spring, MD: General Conference Women’s Ministries Department, 2018), 336.
