Last month, Lawrencia Acquah, was standing near the Accra Mall when a female Fulani beggar approached her for money.
In a narration Lawrencia provided when she appeared on GhoneTV, she said she had not been nice to such Fulani beggars in the past because of what she said was their tendency to harass people for money. So she told the beggar, whose name she later found out to be Leila Ibrahim, that she did not have any money and that she had not even eaten the whole day.
Lawrencia, a teacher, said when Leila, 10, heard that she had not eaten, she asked if she was sure about that and she replied ‘yes’.
The teacher said to her surprise, Leila handed her all the coins she had to be used to buy food. It amounted to One cedis and 10 pesewas.
Lawrencia said was shocked, but she maintained her composure and told Leila that the amount would not be enough to buy her food. She said the beggar asked her to hold on for a while. She ran to a corner where she kept all the money she made from begging and handed everything to Lawrencia.
In addition to the one cedis and 10 pesewas, the money amounted to five cedis.
Leila told Lawrencia that she could buy rice with it and even offered to show her a canteen where she could get food.
According to Lawrencia, although she was not hungry and did not need any money from the girl, she wanted to test the limit of her kindness, so she told Leila that she would still need money for water. She said to her surprise the girl, who had by then run out of money, went to speak with some of her colleagues and returned with some coins with which she could buy sachet water.
At that point, Lawrencia said she was overwhelmed with emotion and she had to confess to the lady that she was not hungry and that she was a waiting for a friend who was shopping at the mall. Both of them later met up with her friend at mall, where she returned Leila’s money to her and gave her additional money.
That, she said, marked the beginning of a friendship between them that has already seen her meet the girl’s family.
Lawrencia said for Leila, a beggar, to give her everything she had was an act of kindness that everyone should try to emulate.
“You don’t have to be wealthy. You don’t have to have everything to help others. If you are in a position to help others, you should just do it. You never know how far it goes or what you are doing to someone’s life. You should try to be kind,” she said
