Exclusive Beggars

Due to the global financial and economic crisis the brothers haven’t managed to find a temporary job in Málaga so far. They are not alone, hundreds try to find a job there with even less hope. So their only chance is begging.

And Ferenc and István do it in an enthusiastic and professional way, they really are exclusive beggars.

by FERENC IVANICS
We just received the 1000 euro donation of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. We are really grateful, thank you. It’s a big step, but according to our calculations this won’t be enough for the USA. Apart from the flight tickets we have to pay for the visas, we have to eat, sleep somewhere, buy new shoes, etc. Currently there is absolutely no chance for us to find a temporary job, so we have decided to beg, or—if you fancy these kinds of euphemisms—to ask for small donations. For the last weeks we have studied this profession in theory, our tutor was János Molnár, a Hungarian guy from Transylvania, who was telling us most of his knowledge and best practices. And there were, of course, many other teachers, friends who gave us advices. We chose one of the most traditional methods: a board with a description of our difficulties and a request for some help.


We worked for two long nights in our tents, we tried to be as prepared as possible. We didn’t want to be one of the many beggars in the city, but the WorldWalkers in trouble—who we are, indeed. So our objective was to create a very show-and-tellesque propaganda, and we didn’t waste our time to achieve our goal. The result was amazing. Other beggars stared unbelievingly at our donation equipment. We became exclusive beggars.


Our very special tool is the dynamic counter, which shows our financial necessities and the amount already collected.

First we tried our luck in front of the El Corte Inglés shopping mall. To our surprise, nobody was interested in our action, it was very disappointing. After a small analysis and discussion we thought that the customers of this shopping mall were always in a hurry, they had no time for beggars, not even for exclusive ones. We tried to find a quieter place that was busy enough at the same time. So we went into the city center of Málaga. The start was very slow but promising.


The first day there we got 32 euros, the next day 43 euros, so it seemed to work. You might think that it’s easy. But I have to tell you: it’s not, it’s a very hard job. We stand, sit or squat the entire day, and it’s very exhaustive mentally as well. Time passes slowly, the weather is cold, but there’s a hope we can collect the missing piece of our budget and finally fly on to North America. We wouldn’t do it if we saw another option. But we don’t.