Begging is a very distressing problem in urban areas of Ethiopia, among which Addis Ababa is thernmost affected. In development studies, though much has not been done and generalized, there is arnconventional view that begging is used as coping strategy and it is one forms of social capital that thernpoor turn in their desperation until good times back Hence, this paper attempts to show whether therernexists a different scenario, a livelihood option, being critical of the prevailed view. To this end, a casernof one Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church vicinity in Addis Ababa was selected, Yekechene DebrernSelam Medanialem Church.. Though this study took the churchyard as a research site, it was as wellrndone on another spatial arena, Dera, Oromia Regional state where large number of migrant beggarsrn(78%) originated, to crosscheck source based cause of beggary. In the course of securing primaryrndata, a master list of beggars living around the selected churchyard are collected, by which it wasrnrealized that there are more than 400 migrant beggars. Afterwards, largely qualitative, along withrnquantitative methods of data generation such as in depth personal interview, focus group discussion,rnquantitative case study and observation among the beggars, the hosting and the origin community,rnand almsgivers and various concerned institutions are conducted in such a way that capture therndiverse realities of beggary, addressing the major objective of the study.rnIt is found that begging is virtually the problem of rural in dress of urban problem. Taking a case ofrnDera, it is revealed that, source based causes are multifaceted, overlapping, leaving one destitute andrnlife threatened. These include landlessness, land fragmentation and degradation, rainfall variability,rnlabour deficit (due to physical and mental defectiveness, old age and poor health), long-standingrnblood feud tradition, social disorganization, land slide with poor institutional context, making a givenrnindividual to have poor asset mix and to follow the tracks of urban beggars. However, it is alsornrealized that non-destitute (who have land, labour and oxen etc) is also joining the life of beggary. Atrndestination around the churchyard, it is seen that with long-standing tradition almsgiving, unexpandedrnand uncoordinated intervention from government and non-government organizations, beggary find arnbreeding pool in the city, particularly around churchyard. On the other hand, using this larger context,rnsome beggars seems do not will to quit from begging evidenced by such as comparable non-beggarrnmigrants working in other productive activities etc. In the course of historical view of beggary in Dera,rnit is realized that beggary, as migration, is perpetuated by feedback mechanism and informationrnexchange, that through time it become patterned, stagnant, normal etc. Therefore, it is concluded that,rnwith its shame and evil, beggary is not only used as coping mechanism but also as a livelihood optionrnto some groups. To tackle beggary, short-term and long term, preventive and curative interventionsrnare recommended.