Missionaries are commonly faced with a difficult and recurring situation insofar as giving money is concerned.  Complete strangers may approach you on the street, or even come to your door, asking that you pay their school fees for the year, or give them 10,000 cfa (about $20) for food.  When in Bamenda we were approached by an elderly man who was making motions of eating, and also pointing to my pockets as though he wanted money.  It was soon revealed that he was not, in fact, deaf, at which point he began insisting that we had money, and that we should give it to him (though he did not threaten us at any point).  Another time a gardener asked me politely for 10,000 cfa so that he could feed his children.  The two cases are quite different, and my initial reaction is to say give to the polite man who asked, rather than the rude man who was attempting to lie to get money.  Fundamentally, however, they are both hungry and impoverished people wanting some food.

The complexity of the situation increases when one is insulated to the hospital compound.  As the "new white person" you are targeted as the one to ask for money.  These amounts are not, relatively, that large compared to the resources available--but if you give to one person, word gets around that you are the "new white person" to ask for money.  Further, although most of the people who ask are honest and hard working, there nonetheless remain many people who misrepresent themselves.

So do we give or not?  The Bible mentions giving to the poor and abandonment of materialism, and I have certainly been blessed with far more than most of these people will ever have. Luckily, the hospital has a system by which foreigners can donate to a fund that will then be dispersed to the needy in an anonymous fashion.  Further, the Social Workers are able to look into whether or not the person requesting money is impoverished, unable to work, or asking-for-the-sake-of-asking.  Hopefully this system can help us to remain "cheerful givers" while not exhausting our empathy.  Despite all of this, when you are face-to-face with a hard working, God loving person who is hungry, it is gut-wrenching to say no.  I don't claim to have the correct answer, but wanted to comment on the complexity.