Disability, Marginalization Becoming ‘Too Tough’ for Women Beggars to Bear

By Mariama Dem

Physical disability and a feeling of marginalization could be two problems too tough to bear but a group of physically-challenged women say this is exactly their situation.

Begging for pittance either as a result of disability or poverty is still proving hard to stamp out as several locations of the country continue to serve as life-line for many mendicants.

From Westfield to Pipeline Mosque and busy Kombo Sillah Drive to the boisterous Sayerr Jobe Avenue, beggars are a common sight and in some situations an eyesore as women and children, seeking alms invade the conscience.

But the beggars are clamoring for recognition as many of them are left feeling being left on the margins of the society.  These beggars felt both the government and society have pushed them to the fringes as they struggle with abuse, discrimination, and neglect among other vices.

The boisterous Westfield intersection is an attractive location for beggars, who high-tail it there each day, to provide for their families through begging.

Fatou Njie told Star TV off camera that she’s forced to beg at Westfield because she is physically-handicapped and has two children to feed and school bills to settle. The 39-year-old is compelled to beg on the bare ground as she’s yet to own a wheelchair, consequently exposing her to many health threats and dangers of the street.

But Fatou would continue to beg as long as she has a family to support with no-one to see her through her daily worries of looking after herself and two school-going children.

For a decade now, Isatou Jallow knew no other place to make a living than Westfield. The wheelchair-bound Isatou is a mother of three and she is responsible for their schooling. But she believes that physically-disabled women are being discriminated against.

Both Isatou and Fatou are meanwhile desirous of acquiring skills to enable them quit the streets but their ignorance of the activities of the Gambia Disabled Association and the little or no governmental support may impede their dreams.