Types of People in Need
Types of People in Need
Who are the needy? They are many and varied in type and form. There are those who are materially needy, lacking money and sufficient income; those who are socially needy, requiring guidance and personal care; those who are spiritually needy, who need counseling and leadership toward repentance; and those who are culturally needy, lacking knowledge and education.
As for the materially needy: we see many people speaking about those with limited income while forgetting those with no income at all. They talk about the poor and overlook those who live below the poverty line. There is the poor person and the destitute—the truly needy. Newspapers have published much about such people without offering solutions, so the matter has become mere words without action. Concerning these people, we ask: who is responsible for them or concerned about them? Is it sociologists, economists, the state, compassionate-hearted wealthy citizens, charitable organizations, or lovers of good in general?
In America there is a group of poor people who have no shelter, known as the homeless. The state provides them with an allowance that represents the very minimum income sufficient only for basic necessities.
Among the needy, we also mention a group neglected by society, who feel that no one remembers them. One of them says, “No one feels for me,” because those who live in comfort and happiness do not sense those deprived of such things. Therefore, those who sit at the top need to descend to the bottom to see who lives there and how they live. Likewise, city dwellers should think of their brothers who live in remote villages, enduring cold and hunger, suffering from harsh climates and neglect, as though they were not brothers in the same homeland. Some of these people live in extremely deprived villages—not merely individual need, but the need of an entire village. Among them are those who lack clean drinking water, electricity, or proper sanitation. People of goodwill may grieve over their condition, yet their situation often remains unchanged.
Among the needy are also young people who face unemployment even after graduating from university. Because of unemployment, they are unable to form families, lacking the money needed for housing. Housing prices have risen sharply, and they cannot afford the costs of marriage or the financial responsibilities of a household. As a result, the age of marriage for young women has been delayed, and financial inability to marry has led to many manifestations of moral corruption. Some attempt to escape this predicament through what they call informal marriage, which carries no responsibilities at all.
Those in need of care also include what we might call the group of strangers—among them those who migrate from Upper Egypt to major cities such as Cairo, where they find neither housing nor work, and sometimes not even a welcoming reception. They move from hardship in their homeland only to encounter another hardship in the place to which they migrate. God, blessed be His name, calls us to show hospitality to strangers—not only those who come from outside our country, but also those who are our brothers within the same nation. These strangers, just as the living among them need care, so too do their dead need burial places. Burial grounds are also needed for groups of the poor.
Among the needy as well are the sick, who require surgical operations whose costs exceed their ability—and sometimes even exceed the capacity of those who wish to help them. Many of these patients cannot even afford the price of medication. Their health may deteriorate because they cannot bear the costs of treatment, and they die as victims of society. Among the sick are those afflicted with leprosy or tuberculosis, whom many people even avoid visiting or mixing with. Also among the needy are patients with various forms of cancer, which have become very widespread in this generation. We are thankful for the establishment of a children’s cancer hospital, and we hope that such care will spread on a much wider scale.
Included among the sick in need are people with disabilities, with their many needs—whether related to treatment or education. The most needy among them are those with intellectual disabilities. We also include among the sick those who have fallen into addiction and are in need of treatment for their addiction.
Among the needy are also prisoners, who should be made to feel that society has not completely cast them out. They are serving a period of punishment so that they may emerge into a better life. Here lies the virtue of visiting prisoners and offering them assistance, especially those who feel they were imprisoned unjustly. Some prisoners were the sole providers for their families; with their imprisonment, the entire family has become needy and in need of care and attention. We also include among these the indebted, who have signed promissory notes and are threatened with imprisonment if they fail to repay their debts.
Among the needy too are those who cannot afford to marry off their daughters because they lack the costs of marriage. Included among these are what we call “respectable but struggling families.” They are in need but cannot declare their need because of their social status. Such families require their needs to be met discreetly. We also include orphans and widows, as well as some poor nations among the needy.
God, in His kindness and compassion, has placed on earth enough good for everyone. It remains for the well-off or the wealthy to meet the needs of the poor, motivated by love and compassion, not by arrogance or by making the needy feel their need. Giving should be offered without waiting to be asked. Those who give should sense the needs of others and not wait for a request, knowing that the needy have a legitimate right in their wealth, according to God’s commandment regarding tithes and almsgiving.
As for those who are spiritually needy and the task of leading them to repentance and a life of virtue, this requires another article.
