As a city minister, I dealt routinely with people in dire straits -- and continue to deal with them from time to time. It was a mix of dire need, cunning deceit, and intense pressure. A refugee asked the Church to pay for two three-month training courses, after which he would become a paid apprentice. We found that such courses were one of the best ways of restoring people to a normal life. With a phone call, the course seemed to check out. I said: "We’ll cover the three-month certificate. Show me the three-month certificate, and we’ll cover another three months." A few months later, he brought me the three-month certificate. I asked our secretary to check it out. It was a forgery. I suspected the refugee. I said: "This is a forgery, and here's why ..." He looked stunned. Then he put his head down and cried and cried. It was not the refugee who was at fault, but somebody who had been posing as a trainer. OBSERVATION: In most cases, we picked up the deceit beforehand, but not in this case. This was at a time where we still helped all-comers. We needed to change that, due to intense pressure on our charitable funds.
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