WHEN I came to the UK in 2000 I hardly saw anyone begging on the streets, but recently I have begun to see a few beggars on the streets; genuine beggars not the ones who beg to buy booze or drugs.
And the list of beggars excludes asylum seekers, most who are now official beggars.
Last week, as I pulled up my car in a busy shopping centre in Coventry, I was approached by a young black man, in his early 20s I would say, and he asked me for money to buy food.
I could have given him a little something, but the fact that he was smoking some cigarettes (which are expensive in this country to deter smokers),
I decided not to assist him.
“Sorry son, I don’t have money,” I said.
I reasoned that if he could afford to buy cigarettes to sustain a smoking habit then he should have money to buy food.
Maybe I was wrong.
A few metres away from this black young man I was approached by a white man probably in his 30s.
He asked me if I could help him with 20 pence to top up his bus-fare.
He was smartly dressed and looked genuinely in need.
This time I took out my wallet and gave him the 20 pence he had asked for, and he showed a lot of gratitude.
I could not believe that in a few minutes I had been asked for money by two strangers, something that I had not experienced before.
While official statistics are showing that the UK’s economy has come out of recession, however, poverty and unemployment still remain high.
Many shops, especially high street shops and retailers, are closing down due to economic challenges.
In August last year, the former chief executive of Wickes and Iceland, Bill Grimsey, produced a report which said that Britain’s high streets were in a ‘deep decline’ with over half of them at risk of closing down.
A ghost town centre is not very impressive to business.
In Coventry where I live there are many empty shops and office premises that cannot be filled because of poor business or economic hardships.
A few colleagues in Yorkshire told me of similar problems; that town centres are turning into ghost towns because of the closure of many companies and businesses.
Charity shops are filling the gap left by the closing shops.
The Centre for Retail Research (UK) lists all the shops that have gone bust in the UK in the past few years.
The Centre’s September report shows that 39 shops have gone bust this year compared to 49 companies that went bust last year.
According to the report, the closure of the 39 businesses has affected 1 282 shops and 11 892 jobs.
Last week Phones 4U, a big retailer phone shop, announced that it was going into administration and closing its 550 shops across the UK and putting 5 596 jobs at risk.
Another UK company, Dairy Crest, also announced that it was going to close two dairy facilities in Hanworth, west London, and a cream potting facility in Chard in Somerset.
This will affect 200 jobs in Hansworth and 60 jobs from the Chard facility in Somerset.
The company will also close its Crudgington butter and spreads factory later this year.
Another major UK retailer shop, Mothercare, also announced that it will close 75 of its shops because of heavy losses and focus on digital business (on-line shopping).
Commenting in the Telegraph (August 31 2013) on a post about the future of retail shops in Britain, one person who identified himself as Lavereck wrote: “In the high street of Cottingham Yorkshire you can see why it has a dismal retail future.
“About half the available parking spaces are for the disabled.
“The street is occupied by mainly old people roaming around for something to do and spending very little money.
“The shops give a wonderful view of the 50s.
“The street, like the people are dying, and although there has been some pleasing coffee shops opening up unless change occurs the future is bleak.
“Trying to maintain the High street will be as futile as trying to maintain the British car industry in the 70s.
“Allow it to die or evolve.
“Government restriction of change by zoning or tax breaks will only make the situation worse.
“It’s a dead parrot.”
I am not the only Zimbabwean shocked by the extent of poverty (and begging) in the UK.
Writing on his facebook page last week, Masimba Musodza, based in Middlesbrough said:
“One thing I noticed about London is that there are more people living on the streets than the last time I visited.
“At Marble Arch, a family was settling down for the night and people gathered to gawk at them like reality TV.
“I only spoke to one of these beggars, a young black man who has a theory: “There is a conspiracy to put all black people on the streets,” he said.
I asked him if he could explain that he was the only black person on the streets I had seen yet, but he couldn’t.
In another post he wrote:
“This week, I have had the stark reality of First World poverty thrust in my face.
“Over the weekend it was beggars in London.
“Yesterday, back in Middlesbrough, a man tapped me on the shoulder.
“When I said I had no idea who he was, he reminded me of the time he had asked me for £6 and I had given him £10 because I had no change.
“Several times, I had bought him a meal or groceries.
“Since then, he has gotten off the streets, got a job and a flat.
“That is why I did not recognise him.
“Now, I have just got back from a Thrive meeting, where I heard stories of people resorting to petty theft in order to eat.
“In the Third World, poverty is down to war, economic mismanagement etc.
“In the First World, the primary cause of poverty is low income.”
There are many young people, especially black men, who are out of employment in this country and some of them are now resorting to illegal means of survival, or living rough and sleeping on the streets.
My 27-year-old son has been out of employment since 2010.
He admits that there is nothing anymore for young people like him in Britain.
“There is nothing, nothing at all,” he said, and is contemplating returning to Zimbabwe.
Many young unemployed black males are targets of drug dealers.
They lure them into selling drugs on the streets in return for money.
Such is the sad reality in Britain.