By Shauna Jemmott

BEGGING in the streets of the capital city has become big business, with some women renting babies for as much as $5000 daily to put up a show of being impoverished, thereby inviting sympathetic charity when they are really living in comfortable homes and have financially solid savings accounts.

The Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) is calling on the public to desist from giving alms to those children who beg on the streets; children who sell at nights; and those begging adults who give the impression that they have to care for infant children.

CC&PA Director Ann Green told the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview that, while some people are genuinely in need, begging has become big business for some. She said the agency is preparing to launch a campaign to clamp down on exploitation of children in the “begging business.”

She said that in the past the agency had faced challenges in getting the law involved, but this year the Guyana Police Force will be involved in the battle against child exploitation by adults to gain wealth.

“Getting the charge [was] difficult, but this year we seriously will be working with the police…we have laws right now, but the [difficult] thing is in getting the execution of those laws. But we have to! We have to get them charged!” Green told the Guyana Chronicle.

She also explained that parents of those children who beg and sell on the streets during school hours and at nights will be held responsible, and will face the consequences as the agency arms itself with new methods of control to ensure that children are being protected.

“This year we’re holding parents accountable! There are too many children being exploited and abused, including those neglected,” Green said.

She said no individual who uses a child to gain alms should be encouraged to do so, and the public must beware of such beggars.

“They must not give money to those people with babies in arms on the road. Give no child [who is] begging money, or any child selling in the night. The public must be sensitised to know that you don’t give them money, because you’re part of their exploitation when you do that,” the CPA head contended.

Instead, she explained, members of the public should become more concerned, make enquires from the children, and link them to services such as those provided by the Ministry of Social Protection and some non-governmental organisations.

EXPLOITATION
“Every time I see, them I would say: “Tell your mother that she should come see me at Child Care and we can help her.” But you don’t give children money…. Don’t put money in their hands! They are being exploited!

“Link them to services…. Question them a little bit more…. Why are they out there? Why are they doing this? Find out how you can help. Just take a little time, but don’t give them money!”

She explained that, during investigations, the CPA found that many of those very beggars are in good financial standing but have become seasoned to begging and have made it a big business.

“One lady had a big house in Berbice and the family was saying they can’t get her off the street. As soon as her children get big and she put them in school, she would get another one and come back. It was a business!”

Another, she said, rented a baby.
“We investigated another one who used to rent a baby! Her own children became too big, and she put them in school. She rented a baby for $5000 a day! In this country! Rent a baby? People like to give when they see a baby in (a beggar’s) hand and if she could tell a good sad story…” Green related.

She added, “The one who is renting the baby, when we go there, (we discovered) she’s got a big house! When we investigate them, (we found that for) most of them, it’s not poverty; it’s (about) business! They’re entrenched street people in business as beggars. They’re predisposed to their lifestyle. It has become part of them. It’s not because they’re poor, it’s a business!”

Greene explained that those women sometimes hide when they see her, while she has already invited some to visit her office for help.

“One day, I run in the bank (and) a lady told me ‘Hello, you drive up with that car and a lady gone running so. She say ‘look yuh coming’ and she gone running’.’ People think that I’m this big bad wolf, but I’m really not. But I’m [just] trying to look after the best interest and welfare of the children, and to stop them from being exploited,” Greene explained.

Green warned that if child beggars are not removed from Guyana’s streets early enough, the situation could become out of control.

“If we don’t stop those begging children, we are going to get like what I see happening in some foreign countries, where the children just make it a living, and they’re there on the street and they are not going to go to school!” Green stated.

She explained that sensitising the public is a great technique which is used to prevent such explosion of the condition, and people from investing in child exploitation.

“If you give them money, you’re part of their problem. If you stop it and help us, you’re part of the solution,” Green stated.