The beggar's dilemma
It is impossible to imagine the streets of Bangkok, Phuket or Pattaya without beggars. Old toothless grannies, mothers with babies, men with or without limbs, blind karaoke singers, disabled people and tramps sometimes accompanied by mangy dogs.
With a plastic cup in hand, they look at you wistfully and throw some plaintive words in your direction, in a language we don't understand.
Every time I am confronted with a beggar, this creates a difficult dilemma for me. What to give or go through?
Working for your geld
In Thailand everyone has to work for their money. There aren't many other options. No work is no money. You can look for a long time for a counter of the social services because you will not find one.
Anyone who considers that a Thai woman, working as a waitress in a restaurant, receives about 5.000 baht salary per month (107 euros) will raise his eyebrows. It becomes really pitiful when you hear that they are free for a maximum of 1 or 2 days per month. A little calculation shows that the waitress in question earns about 0,46 euro cents per hour. An hour of hard work for less than half a euro!
Keep smiling and don't complain
During my stay in Pattaya, I often walked to the Beergarden, right at the beginning of Walking Street, to have breakfast. As usual I had a chat with the waitress who is always friendly. She did let me know after some further questioning that she was very tired. She started work every morning at 10.00:18.00 am and was relieved by the evening shift at XNUMX:XNUMX pm. Then home to still do the household and that continuously seven days a week. Only one day off per month. So there was no breathing.
Mother with child, begging on the side of the road
On my morning route hotels to the Beergarden I regularly encountered a beggar woman with a baby (see top photo). Often in the same spot in the shade leaning against a parked car and the baby on my lap. A scene that evokes pity in almost every farang. Usually you have some loose coins in your pocket and quickly aim in the cup.
Better beg than work?
Begging in ThailandI noticed that I quickly gave 20 baht or more to a beggar, sometimes even 100 baht for lack of smaller denominations. And to grab your wallet first and then give nothing also feels a bit uncomfortable.
It is not inconceivable that the average beggar receives a donation 4 to 5 times an hour. The beggars naturally sit in a place where enough farang pass by.
Suppose a farang gives an average of 10 baht (which is on the low side) and she is there for eight hours, she will receive 400 baht per day. (5x 10 baht x 8 hours). After a month she has begged 12.000 baht. That is more than double the monthly wage of the waitress in the Beergarden! Not bad for holding up a plastic cup.
Witness an unpleasant spectacle
One day I witnessed a special but also annoying spectacle. The beggar woman in question was abused and threatened by an unkempt man, probably her boyfriend or wife. It was clear that this scrawny man was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Given his appearance and physicality, it was not the first time either.
Because Thai rarely, if ever, raise their voices in public and certainly don't shout in the street, it quickly occurred to me that they were Burmese people rather than Thai. Inquiry gave me the information note that, in situations like this, it often involves organized gangs from Burma who have made begging their profession. The baby in question is often borrowed because this guarantees a lot of extra income.
Organized Burmese begging gangs
She probably had not begged enough to pay for her husband's "expensive" hobby, namely alcohol and drugs. Both she and the baby began to cry heartbreakingly and for a moment it looked as if he was going to give her a few good whacks. I already had my cell phone with the police number at the ready. Fortunately, it was only a lot of shouting.
In any case, it was clear that the female beggar woman was the victim of the situation. She has to hand in the money she begs for to her addicted husband. So I indirectly sponsor that filthy lapzwans of hers, who is too lazy to work herself. He forces his wife to beg and if she collects too little, she gets another portion of beating in the bargain.
The next day when I walked by again I was faced with a difficult choice. If I don't give anything she will get hit, if I give something then hubby buys drinks and drugs from my well-intentioned money.
In short, the beggar's dilemma.
Well said, I always struggle with this too! Also in Cambodia with all those begging children or kids selling cards/bracelets. Or the use of animals, eg the elephants & monkeys that are used to beg by eg selling food to tourists or that you can take a picture with. Some scenes are truly heartbreaking!
My personal conclusion is to give nothing. Very annoying for those in the short term, but if everyone stops giving structurally, it will turn out that begging does not yield anything and the beggars (and gangs) will have to come up with something else. Maybe just get a job. If the situation is right, I do try to have a conversation, to make a joke or to sing a song with kids, in short, some personal attention and if I have some fruit or something with me, I share something.
Yet it remains a dilemma
Instead of money you better give them a bite to eat, in my opinion. (Indeed, they are almost always organized gangs)
Most begging is organized in Bangkok. How many times have I almost tripped over that legless guy who usually lays half dead in the middle of the sidewalk on Sukhumvit near soi 7. I recently came across it in Silom, another area where many rich farang tourists come. Still great to move such an end without legs, and a brilliant piece of geo-targeting.
Almost all beggars on Sukhumvit (between Asok and Nana) are managed by an elderly Thai woman who walks around with her dogs, I have seen her regularly collecting the loot. The beggars are dropped off and picked up again, often working in shifts. Children are also used by gangs, also for selling roses, etc.
It is indeed a dilemma. This 'job' is the only way for these people to earn some money, but giving money keeps it going and only motivates. Especially when it comes to children, I sometimes want to buy something for them, such as shoes or food, instead of giving money. With things like shoes/clothing you also have to watch out a bit, because they might get into trouble with the 'managers'. I also give money, but I am well aware that with this I am perpetuating the situation.
I quickly learned not to give money after my first time in Thailand.
Wherever you are in 1 restaurant, bar, market, street and so on.
That's everywhere tourists come
When I decided to give that boy with the roses 1 drink, I read the fear in his eyes, he brought his sister in to quickly drink it together under the table. Outside, Dad gave them 1 punch as a reward.
At 1 market, someone without legs lay on the floor next to me with 1 empty bowl, in a time of 15 minutes he had more than 100 Thb.
1x 1 girl was so cheeky that when she came in I gave me 1 big poke in my back.
Then don't do anything back but file the complaint with the bar owner otherwise you can get into quite a bit of trouble.
On the beaches it is often several women who pass by with the same child on their arms.
I was cured a long time ago to find the pathetic beggars pathetic too.
About 9 years ago (I didn't live in Thailand yet) I was walking with Som near our hotel (new world). At that time, Som often went to the Netherlands, which was fairly easy at the time.
On a street corner sat/lay a man with a horribly deformed leg, also bloody. So something given.
We walked on and suddenly Som drew my attention to the man.
He took his bloody leg under his arm, walked across the street, got into a parked car and drove off.
I did laugh a lot though.
Gerrit
Don't forget that the Burmese are in Thailand illegally. For that reason they will not get a job. Undeclared work – in construction – is perhaps a possibility, but it is not for everyone. So if you can spare it - I usually give 5 baht - just do it.
in Thailand there are many Burmese who work here illegally. Both in construction and in restaurants, small hotels, and private individuals.
A Thai gets 120 baht a day, against a Burmese 80 baht. I regularly visit a BBQ restaurant and only Burmese work there. Also had dinner there yesterday, only all the Burmese had disappeared, maybe you guessed it, arrested by the police and put back across the border after a night of grumbling and paying 5000 baht. There are also more and more beggars on the local market, as said, brings in more than working, and all income is converted into alcohol and cigarettes. Even young healthy people come to the falang to ask for money. So my conclusion is NOT to give anything, because more and more people are hiding in rags, trying to steal your money. Not even 5 baht.
Up to you amigo. I do. I have no problem with it at all. I will not give a 20 baht note and certainly not a 100 baht note. Everyone should know for themselves.
I once sat on a bench near a well-known hamburger chain. Less than 50 meters away was a woman with a child in her arm. She sat there begging.
I have seen several Thai give money to this woman. And if anyone would have knowledge of the begging industry, it would have to be the Thai. Take it from me that the Thai would not give money to such a woman.
It will therefore not be too bad with the organized begging industry in Thailand. And later in the day or evening, if you offer a lady drink worth 100 baht to a babe in a bar, think about how many opportunities you missed by not putting a 5 baht coin in her cup.
I gave some to an old woman in Hua Hin who was in really bad shape. There's nothing wrong with showing your Jai Dee every now and then.
Even before I ever went to Thailand I went to Paris. There was a deaf-mute man sitting on the floor with a sign in front of him and the text that he was deaf-mute begging. I just as (deaf) dumb gave that man money. A few hours later I came across him in a pub somewhere talking and drinking against pressure.
A few years later in St. Petersburg I saw people begging along the side with children. In the cold and just lying on the street without thick clothing. So give money again…. Well those people were just picked up by a fat Rolls Royce at the end of the day.
The result is that in Thailand I walk right past those people who beg. Is that the desired effect?
Begging is also not uncommon in Europe. Only in a different way. Just when you are eating, the bell rings, and you are harassed by all kinds of different pipos. On Dutch TV, it is usually a success formula, etc..
Roon we are talking about Thailand here.
In Europe we know that, don't respond to respond and go watch TV with mammaloe.
Giving nothing is an organized industry.
Have seen many times that they were dropped off with vans on the second road.
What is also, or was, particularly annoying, because fortunately you don't see this too much anymore, were the children selling gum, mainly in the Walking Street.
And this gentleman can handle every tourist, I think, that's the guy in a disabled car in the Walking Street who sells flowers.
The whole flower business belongs to that guy, I once saw him get out of his car, one that is made in Germany, plus a big bus full of flowers, so that an elderly Thai woman can immediately start again when she has everything sold to a tourist who is happy with his Thai conquest????? made with a bunch of roses.
There are enough reliable 'charity' organizations in Thailand to make donations regularly or not, which also helps you get rid of your guilt!