How to deal with the beggars

kiwi_razz

Just a point to confirm what randomviolins & cwcwdavid mentioned.

The sister of an ex-colleague of mine was working on the phones for the Sri Lanka appeal in the UK. She was earning GBP300/day. Now think exactly how many people they had working for them and how many days and try to think about how much donated money actually gets to those affected and the percentage is probably a lot smaller than you would want. I have also seen advertisements for fulltime jobs working for charities for GBP30000/year. For this reason I do not give to "proper" charities in the west, but of course am happy to give the odd few rupees to a beggar every now and then.

btw I don't subscribe to the view that "most" beggars have a mafia type boss. but that's my opinion.

shipwreckedcanuk

Hi all,

I'll be making my first trip to India in March/April of '06. I've already done a good bit of world travel and have found that from the gypsies (is that a pc term anymore?) in Europe, to child begging gangs in South America, to the the beggars in Vancouver there really isn't a lot of difference. Sure, some are pushier than others, some will beg first then steal second, but they are all people who have it worse than I do. I try to remember that before I get angry. On to the way I deal with them...

In order to help people while still keeping (part) of my sanity, I've decided to reward the behavior I like and 'punish' the behavior I don't.

-If I see a street performer (especially kids) I give generously- they are providing value (entertainment) to me and have learned a skill. If they get rewarded for even a small step it just might encourage them to make another one, or encourage someone else to take the first one. Even if it doesn't, the fantasy that it might makes me feel better.

-If I get hounded by a beggar I will make a point never to give them anything and just ignore them completely. It goes double for people with props, ie babies- they get the same look I give the poop on my shoe, and either a snort or a dismissive gesture.

-Kids who just beg get no money, but might get a small sweet (come on- their kids!). The guy who most likely runs the kid won't get the sweet, but sure as heck will end up with any coins I give the kid.

-I don't give any money to the 'sit on the side of the road with a hand out crowd'. It only attracts the 'hound you to death crowd' and I think a lot of what they get goes to gangs that allow them to beg in good places.

-The vast majority of my meger giving budget goes to local/national charities that educate/house kids. The odds of getting a street kid onto a better life are very slim, but I think they are better through an established charity than through my giving a couple coins and then moving on.

I'll be curious to see what it's like in India, but I've found in the past that sticking to my rules limits the impact of begging on my trip, while still allowing me to maybe make a small difference.

seventies'hippy

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Nick-H

I don't believe I have the right to reward or to punish.

On the other hand I can't justify why I gave to one and not to another, except that I do run away from the real hustlers (assuming I've accurately told the difference, which is far from sure).

I don't like the Chinna Baby crowd, but even among them I've had reaction to a very small gift that showed that that one was genuine.

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bijapuri

whenever I give to a beggar, I make it clear that I expect some FAT govt contracts in return if they are elected, capiche?

In India, I just smile

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shipwreckedcanuk

I guess I look at begging as someone saying that their situation is so bad that it is worthy of me giving them money. Since I can't give money to all the various worthy people, I have to decided who are the most worthy to my way of thinking. People who make an attempt at doing something, no matter how small, deserve recognition for this. People who smear dirt on a childs face to make it look more pathetic don't. Their individual level of poverty might be the same, but I'm more inclined to help the person that has tried to do something about it rather than the person who has tried to simply use it.

I think everyone develops a method of coping with the extremes of poverty in the world- this just happens to be mine.

Nick-H

My, Bij' --- you are sharp these days

shipwreckedcanuk, I know what you mean, I've tried to rationalise, make rules or even guidelines for myself.

One problem with asking to be entertained is that this can be tough on the sick, especially the mentally sick, or the very old.

I can't forget some of the beggars I've met. One was on old man, just sitting, palm upwards and half-crying something. My companion said, he is crying, "I am hungry, I am hungry...".

Mostly I just keep a few coins in my pocket and give maybe Rs5 to everyone who asks until it is gone.

I will say this: love can't be bought on the street, and the only thing I expect or ask of a beggar is that they leave me alone when I have given to them ---but some of the smiles I have been given just make me feel small for having given so little.

snowcrab

I just bypass the whole passing of judgement stuff myself. I've been on the street myself. I know a lot of where people are at (in many dimensions) depends more upon good fortune than planning or industry. So, I don't feel guilty about beggars in India or anywhere else, but sometimes it just makes me feel good to be a tiny bit of good fortune in a bleak day of another human being. Sometimes I forget,that's ok too, someone else can supply that tiny bit of good fortune today.

Nick-H

Nicely put, Snowcrab.

RedSwordfish

I often give money to beggars, but sometimes when it's too much, I justsay NO and be patient...then they're off. It's another thing with that professional transsexual beggars in trains, I tell them very clearly to fuck off.

shipwreckedcanuk

Yes, rules don't always work- what's that military saying, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. Not that beggars are enemies, just that whatever logical, rational plan you have may not survive contact with the illogical, irrational situations you see. There are some things you can't unsee- and you'd have to be made of stone not to be moved by them, but it helps me to at least give myself a framework to put around something- even if I'm the only one that sees it.

Hi snowcrab- we're from the same province, though I've run away for warmer weather for now...

snowcrab

I'm doing the same pretty quick, Goa for me. They don't call us snowbirds for nothing!

bijapuri

In 1973 when I returned from India after 3 years, (and sick as a dog from Hep-A and God know what else) I did a form of "begging"
I rebuilt a pickup truck which I purchased for $1, and went around the neighborhood asking people if they needed ANY work. I never turned down any offer. I survived. Eventually I got a job driving busses.

Nowadays, of course ,beggars are in almost every country.
Here, we have lots of beggars. They all beg downtown. I asked this one beggar, who usually stations himself very near where I park when i go downtown, if he'd like to wash my truck. He said he'd do in the next day. Next day came, he said he was too weak to do so. The fat little fuck wasn't there the next day, or for any day thereafter.

A few blocks away, outside a local lumber yard, dozens of Mexicans mill around waiting for someone to hire them on the spot for work. I can get my whole garden weeded and looking like Ground Force in a few hours with the help of the Mexicans. I always feed them. They never take breaks. I pay them more than we agree, every time.
What's the point?
MY point is . . . I NEVER feel guilty about smiling and passing by beggars. Jeesh, get real!

snowcrab

I'd rather not make those distinctions.

Paying people who are desperate for any kind of employment less than what it takes for them to live with the kind of dignity you expect for yourself, just because they are desperate is another whole can of worms,even if you have graduated from that school of hard knocks yourself with minimal damage.

There is a lot of systemic exploitation of vulnerable people going on, and the object lessons for those who refuse to accept these conditions and the excuses for those doing the exploitation are sitting out there on the sidewalk. it's a kind of economic blackmail to run an economy with a mandatory 10% unemployment-keeps the price of labour down and workers docile. I don't have much admiration for that system either.

Feel better about just short circuting the system by giving a bit from my good fortune without conditions, I figure good fortune is pretty much the luck of the draw too.

rangss

You are lucky...if you understand their lingo...you would blush with embarrassment at the abuses they hurl at you for refusing them. I head to the loo each time I see them. refusing to pay them is one thing, but most certainly I would not like to test their vocabulary

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