A Momentary Lapse in Effectiveness

This is Debenew. He shined my shoes today.

Anybody with remotely nice shoes is constantly approached by shoe-shiners. My instinct is generally to say no. I think this is a Canadian thing. I’m used to egalitarianism. There’s a small amount of discomfort having somebody do these tasks for me, shoes, laundry. I end up thanking much more than is normal.

But today, as with some days, I agreed. ‘Waga sente no?’ ‘And Birr.’ One Birr. ‘Eshe’. The clincher was the fact that he’s working. Not begging. Trying to bring in some small amount of money for him or his family. maybe 10 Birr per day. And I’d much rather support people working than begging, which does little to help the long term problems. My rationale, my gut decision, was that it was a productive action. A tiny contribution, based on effectiveness.

We headed over to the shade and he got to work, pulling a rag, brushes and cream out of his wooden box. Cleaning my shoes, brushing them clean and shining them, all punctuated by the tap on the box signaling a shoe switch.

It was during this time that I looked at him carefully. All 6 or 7 years of him. He was so businesslike. So determined. Professional, actually. And the kid was all of 7 years old. In Canada, he would be just starting school. A little coddled maybe. Soccer practice, art lessons. Doted on by grandparents. New Nikes.

Here he is busting his ass for about a buck a day.

I realized again why people start orphanages here. Support schools. Not all of these efforts are well thought-out or designed, but I’ll bet most are triggered by what I felt while looking at Debenew: this kid deserves better than this. He’s been put in his situation, and working through it, diligently and without complaint. It was an emotional attachment that shifted my motivation from effectiveness to compassion. I left him 4 birr.

B

       

Tagged as: addis ababa, ethiopia, shoe shine