Unlike many in his condition, Lawal Musa, a 47-year-old leper living in Zuba Garage, Niger state, has condemned begging for alms, and instead chose to be productive to earn a living.
Musa who hails from Zaria, Kaduna State, owns a farm and does a little buying and selling in Abuja, where he’s a regular sight on the flyover bridge across the Kubwa Expressway by Gwarinpa .
He displays his wares on a piece of cloth spread on the floor of the bridge for passersby to see. The items include a dozen of toothbrushes, combs, salt and some others.
NewsNGR met him at the spot last week and asked him why he’s not begging for alms like others.
“I engage in business because doing business is better than staying idle, it adds to your worth. This is why I sell these things here,” he told our correspondent.
“Sometimes when you’re into business like this, no matter how little, someone may pick interest in you and promote you, others may not only patronise you but also dash you money to push it, you don’t have to beg.”
But once the rain starts, Musa goes back to his farm in Zuba to begin the farming season.
“If I get a little money from my sales here, I meet my neighbours who hires tractors to plough for them, then I too will gIve the little I have for them to plough my farm,” he said.
When the plough is ready, he plants the seeds by himself. He plants maize, sweet potatoes and rice.
“Staying idle is not the best for me, I can be working on my farm until 7 pm in the evening,” he said.
Musa told NewsNGR that he has been living around Zuba Garage for close to 10 years now together with his family, living in a rented house that costs him N30k per year.
According to him, he was married to two wives who bore him seven children, but life dealt him a blow when he lost his first wife and 5 children on different occasions to malaria.
Begging Is Not Good
He told NewsNGR that although he is not in a position to tell the government the appropriate punishment to mete out to beggars, he believes something must be done to tackle the menace.
“Some people can’t stay without begging no matter how, I don’t see begging as an appropriate thing to do,” he said.
“In fact, the beggars are not only the physically challenged, some people are very healthy and it’s not as if they’re even physically challenged, but they still prefer to go and beg.
“So, personally, I feel such people should leave begging to the physically challenged even though I’m still not in support of beggars,” he stressed.
I Wasn’t Born With Leprosy
Musa told NewsNGR that he wasn’t born with leprosy and never knew he had it until it began to manifest on his skin as a teenager.
He was treated at the Leprosy Hospital in Zaria about 30 years ago. He said, “Since I took drugs, the disease got cured, assuming it wasn’t cured you’ll be seeing wounds all over my body.
“But I find it difficult to do work because I have to lift everything to my chest, and it hurts a lot.
“Again, leprosy doesn’t like heat. If the sun touches me or I go near fire, it will start hurting and bringing out puss.”
He also highlighted that despite his resolve to engage in business rather than resorting to alms begging, he still has to cope with discrimination from people.
” Why I don’t sell edible things is because many people will not buy them because of my condition.
“I face discrimination from people while others feel there’s nothing wrong in associating with me, others feel I’m disgusting. You’ll see them dodging when they find themselves near me.
“Some while dashing me money, have to hold it at the tip and drop it into my hands. Others even drop the money on the ground.”