By: Abdool A. Aziz

THE young man was closing up his house for the evening when he heard a call at the gate. A father and a mother and two children were standing there. He shouted, “Can I help you?” Just then his wife came up “Don’t stand there, go meet them,” she said. He reluctantly slumped away, muttering “At this time.”

The visitors were requesting a shelter for the night. He said he had none. They pointed to the storeroom, he told them it was not fit for human habitation. Just then the wife walked downstairs, she opened the gate and said, “Come inside!”
She went upstairs, brought towels and some clothes.

“Go, freshen up, I’ll be back,” she told the guests.
The stunned husband asked, “Where are you putting them?”
She pointed to the well-furnished guest room.

“That was put there for any guest,” she said. Following their cleanup, it was time for dinner. They all sat at the posh dinette table, using the ware plates. The beggars pleaded not to be treated thus, they kept saying they do not deserve this high treatment. The young couple tried to comfort them stating they are happy to accommodate them and they were special guests.

A MORE PRACTICAL ACCOMMODATION
It was clear that they weren’t comfortable so they gave him alms and bid them goodbye. And the wife said, “Go, seek alms, and if nightfall reaches you and you have no way to stay, return to us.”
And they did. And the downstairs was spiced up for them. The guest bed was moved downstairs. They were more comfortable and happier. They built a mud ‘fireside’ and began cooking. The couple allowed them to plant the yard. It was their home. The children began school and health care.

THE BLESSINGS THAT FLOWED
A week later, the couple won a second prize lotto for a Fogarty’s shopping spree. The couple couldn’t buy out all the money in merchandise. They gave their guests some. In another month, came a dream appointment – a job as a community development officer. That job took the husband to Bartica.

The couple left the entire property in the care of their guests and paid them too. A few months later came a car and the couple’s daughter was born – a treasured gift. She bought them tremendous luck. A kind gesture can usher in a galaxy of generosity; the old adage ‘God don’t come but he sends’, is so true. Angels can appear in man’s image.

Whether their clothes are tattered, smelly, unkempt, dirty, condemned or not – they are people too. They might be poor but have God in their soul, and who put them there? They are the ‘spills’ of our so-called modern society. You could have shared their fate. Give and smile and turn away. It might be a charity for life. Give the love of giving. Make hearts happy.