Beggar gang in Sattahip
When, a long time ago, I met holiday in Italy, we arrived in Florence on a square in the center with three large churches. Lots of tourists of course, a bustle of interest.
At the entrance of each of these cathedrals sat some old women, dressed all in black, holding out their hands for a few lira. They indeed looked needy and received a lot of support from the passers-by. Of course you do that in such a devout environment.
It was already late afternoon and while I was waiting for my wife, who couldn't get enough of the art inside the church, I saw one of those "black" females looking at her watch.
As if warned by a factory horn, the women stood up, took off the black clothes draped over their normal clothes. It turned out to be two young women in jeans, who then drove off on their scooter, probably on their way home to prepare spaghetti for her husband and bambinos. Pure deceit, fraud, theft you might say, but I found it funny in a way.
Not funny
Something similar happens in Thailand also, but then it is absolutely not funny, on the contrary! In Pattaya Mail I read an article about 11 boys who were recently freed from the clutches of a loanshark and his cronies in Sattahip.
They were forced to beg for money in markets in Sattahip, Pattaya, Chonburi, Sri Racha and Bangkok. Sattahip police raided a hotels in Sattahip where the loanshark and his four “associates” were arrested. The boys, aged 12 to 17, were found in eight rooms, as well as monk's habits, alms trays, two megaphones and some cash.
Parents complain
The raid came after complaints from parents, who accused the loanshark, that the boys had been kidnapped and forced to beg, supposedly disguised as monks, for the repair work of Nongfai Laokhwan temple in Kanchanaburi. The boys were shaved and taken to the various markets in monk habits to beg at least 10.000 Baht a day.
With a lower “score”, the boys were mistreated by the gang members.
Traces of methamphetamine were also found in the urine of almost all boys. The parents, who were all indebted to the loanshark, were told that work would be found for the boys so that the debts could be forgiven.
National network
The boys were taken to a home in Nonthaburi before being reunited with their parents. Although the police call it a successful action, they add that this case is probably just the tip of the iceberg. It would be part of a national network, where more than a hundred young children are forced to beg.
It will be your child!
Years ago I submitted my experience once.
I think about 12 years ago I was walking with Som down a wide street after a dinner to go to our hotel In Bangkok.
On the sidewalk sat a beggar with a bloody stump of a leg, acting pitifully.
Even then we gave nothing to this kind of handicapped/
We crossed the street and Som looked back and. then said surprised "see that beggar.?"
The poor man got up, took his bloodied leg stump under his arm, walked across to where his car was and drove off.
We laugh at this silly display.
Gerrit
The first time I visited Thailand I did not notice it, but I did get a strange feeling when a woman came with a baby on her arm, which I think was the same baby of a woman who came to me half an hour earlier with a sad story. Has been .
Later I started to pay attention to them and I was quite shocked by the wiles they play.
In Chiang Mai, a beggar got into his Mercedes after work.
At a market in Hua hin, 1 lay down on the ground next to me, what that man picked up in fifteen minutes Wim Kok had given up his job for.
Since the time children had offered flowers and saw that they were scolded because they had had a coke from me, I don't give anything anymore.
Nowadays I help people in a way that they can build a good life and enjoy how happy they are.
A shocking story, but how can you distinguish a real one from a fake if you want to give something to a monk?
Monks must be able to show a pass that states at least their own name, their monastic name, and which temple they are affiliated with. You can just ask if you're not familiar with it. Monks you meet in a temple can almost always be trusted, but outside of it…………just don't do it.
A striking incident occurred when we were going to Udon Thani (Ban Namphon) last September.
We left at 5 o'clock in the morning by car. At the first and best traffic light in Hua Hin, after the Grandmarket, there was someone dressed in a monk's robe.
While we were waiting at the traffic light for it to turn green, this monk(?) walked towards us and Maem lowered the window….grgrgrgrgr…
He asked for some money for food….
Okay Maem wanted to give him 100 baht, but while taking the money out of her wallet, he also asked for money to travel to Bangkok…..because he had seen that the purse was well stocked….
Since I don't speak Thai, Maem translated that for me, whereupon I got so pissed off and took the money from her hands, which she had already put out to give to the monk.
I said: “Because you ask for even more you get nothing at all !! (in English) and drove off.
Maem was very displeased, despite it being a cutie, because you wouldn't do that to a monk, would you?
We had, say, an argument, but that calmed down, when I explained that this was possibly a beggar playing monk….
Okay we still had 811 km to go….
When we arrived in Ban Namphon, we got together with the family (6 farmers and sisters + their children who are studying at the university).
I told them the story and they laughed at my reaction and agreed with me, because real monks would never do that…
Yes, there are clever cheaters everywhere, but this time I was ahead of them…