the saddest sight

[joes3175 0]

Orphanages mostly run by nuns, religious otganizations such as Charitas, and you dont see them begging on the streets.Same people who refused to give bowl of rice to hungry till they become Catolic as in Cambodia before.It is your choice to give them or not, or to whom you give.Also most of these orhanages do NOT allow for fotrigners to adopt a child! Did you know that there is 5-7 yrs waiting period in Brazil for Australians to adopt a child? And is limited to 250 per yr?In the same time hunderts of street kids many under 12yr beig shot by of duty cops in many Brazilain cities not only Rio?

 

 

If I have money in back pocket I give to anyone who beg from me. If is empty I will say No, sorry. but if is a badly handicaped person I will take out my valet. Rather than for years to come remember that I didnt give to one of the most miserable person on the world whom I ever meet, and trying to come up with idiotic excuses WHY I DIDNT give! O yes after 2 salbs of beer I probably find the right reason;

I didnt give as he was an investment banker!

[Bullfrog 2,224]

We share the same distaste for catholicism and I agree with you totally about the worldwide poverty problems but the thread is about Pattaya beggars and their legitimacy.

 

I will not allow my (our) opinions of worldwide charity corruption and subsequent inefficiency stop me from donating to Jesters care for kids. I do exactly as you suggest and fill a jar every day and when the time comes take it to the bank and donate anonamously.As my first mail stated, I give to people in the street if their handicap is such that they can't obtain work.Otherwise it goes in my jar.

[joes3175 0]

It is up to you to whom you give.

 

My opinion is that we need to give to the beggars on the street. Let me give you a few examples;

1) Hawai 1941-44. Military marshal law overrides local laws and allow prostitution, so 1000's of sailors can empty themself.The place where the 3 Dollars for 3 minures of pleasure invented, girls doing 100 or more lads per day. The locals become more and more angry with the behavior of drunk sailors and in 1944 all come to end by shipping 100's of girls to the mailnland USA.

2) Brazil Rio de Janeiro,locals very friendly to tourist on the streets,bars etc up to early 1980's. Today; Srep a few steps in wrong direction and you will be robed.Locals dont give a shit about touricts exept the girls who are also after you money honey! Till 1980's most tourist who come here give to the beggars.

Number of beggars multiplied durring the years.Today the streetkids dont only beg, they command with a knife; Give me your money! The orphans --well better say it correctly; run away kids--are big problem and 100s of them getting killed each month, still they coming to the bright life. Whoring is just not safe any more.

3) Olongapo Philippines; with about 20.000 registered hookers in heydays.In late 1980's the locals changed their behavior.Till then they bought you a beer invite you for a rum in their home. In 1990's all this changed, locals claim the Yanks are only coming for girls and become unfriendly towards foreigners. US withdrawal was nothing to do with the volcano eruption, the navy/airforce withdrawal previously already been amend.

The number of beggars multiplied during the years, and the foreigners gave less and less.

 

Pattaya; this will be my first visit, but if there is a problem with the number of beggars the expat community should talk to local elected official (major?) about the reducing their numbers and their "working hours".

Perhaps some restaurants to hand out basic food on rotating bases, perhaps sponsored by foreigners.

But it is important watch out for the number of beggars . Beside that is important to give to beggars when we visiting 3rd world countries, showimg our respect to locals. Respect is a mutual thing, not only to take, to expect from locals to respect us....Once we have a problem with locals we loose the whoreplace very soon.

Beside giving to beggars is also important to wear condom so we dont ende up making up the number of local streetkids who chase foreigners for few cens with other streetkids while mama is busy working on one todays " my only love ever" in the bar!

Last year on the way back from the Philippines I been siting next to a guy who spent 4 weeks in Manila/Tondo, on less than $500. I was amazed. His girlfriend was sharing a room with 11 others, sleeping on the floor, and he stayed with her. The most amusig for me was when he was talking about food with the locals, and for his astonishment none of the 35 people lived in the house knew how to eat a stake, so he promised to them to show it next day.So they went to a restourant with 40 or so people,and he ordered a fried rice for his girl and a stake for himself only, and he started to eat it, You see this is how to eat a steak!!!

 

Thats all what I have to say,I go to sleep, I'm off for fishing, early in the morning.

[whitespider 1]

I am sad to say that yes it is a scam and that by donating money you are helping tp perpetuate the scam. You are not helping these people by giving money, you are hurting them. Same with the kids selling chewing gum. You will not see genuine beggars in Pattaya or around the farang areas of Bangkok. It is all tied up and controlled by bad people.

 

The Bangkok police recently issued a press release asking people and especially tourists not to give money to these people. The police have a lot of trouble trying to control the situation as there is just too much money being made. The gang leaders are well connected and pay large kickbacks to authorities.

 

The reason you see these people out at night, five and six year old kids included, is because their bosses send them out at times when farangs are about. Babies are shared out among the group and often "perform" 24 hours a day with different "mothers". All the money they get is given to the bosses, who in return provide them with minimal food and terrible living conditions. A lot of the beggars are illegal immigrants from Cambodia and Myanmar specially brought in by the gangs. Some have been intentionally disfigured to improve their pittifulness.

 

It is understandable that farangs feel bad when they see these poor people and want to help. That is what the scam is based on. If you genuinely want to help the less fortunate then give to one of the many legitimate charities in Thailand. There are many options you can choose and your money will really do some good rather than hurting these poor people even more.

 

The Pattaya Orphanage and the Street Kid Centre are obvious examples.

 

If you do not have the time or inclination to get involved with organised giving and you feel strong pity for a beggar, then take them to a restaurant or street stall and buy them some food. That way you will at least know they are getting some benefit from your giving.

 

As for the guy with no legs that slithers along on his belly. I have seen him "after work". He has a nice clean set of clothes that he changes into and artificial legs which enable him to walk perfectly well.

 

Pete

 

I am not going to dispute what you say and it has given me a lot of food for thought. It does however beg the questions:-

 

If the "bosses" were NOT giving them minimal food and living conditions - then what would they do. If the "bosses" stop looking after them (however poorly) who else will? There seems to be a distinct lack of attention to this problem from better off Thais.

 

Poor conditions may be better than starvation - just maybe.

 

It really f***s me off all this - when I decided to move to Thailand this was the biggest dilemma I faced as it had caused me some level of distress as a visitor. In the end I just had to accept that I had to face it and deal with it.

 

I fear that if the police had their way it would just be brushed under the carpet somewhere - out of sight and out of mind a bit like they have done with the slum dwellings in Bangkok - hidden away until some rich guy wants to build a flyover to his World Trade Center (whoops)!!

[kellydown 0]

i have seen the same thing in Las Vegas,Cancun,Vancouver.where there are tourists there will be beggars.

[stewieg 1]

I came out of the markets one day and there was a beggar who was just an upper torso, looked like he was standing in a hole. I gave him some baht and then as I was walking towards 2nd road I saw this young girl, couldn't have been more than 15yo. She looked as if someone had thrown a bucket of acid over her, skin all burnt red. I felt terrible for the rest of that day. Don't be discouraged from giving these people money, they need it.