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http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/09/giving_money_to_child_beggars_don_t_do_it.html
Keep the Change
Giving money to child beggars is the least generous thing a tourist can do.
By Jillian Keenan
When we give money directly to child beggars, we hurt more than we help. But the imperative to not give money or gifts doesn’t mean we have to turn our backs on them.
Photo courtesy Eric Johnson
I still remember him vividly. He was a little boy, maybe 10 or 11 years old, who navigated the streets of New Delhi by lying, stomach-down, on an old skateboard, and pulling his body along with his arms. He didn’t have any legs. He rolled over to me, looked up into my eyes, and asked for money. Struggling not to cry, I reached into my pocket and handed over the equivalent of $10, less than what I spend on coffee each week.
Giving him those $10 might be among the most destructive things I’ve ever done.
Tourists should never give money to child beggars we meet abroad. Not even the cute ones. Not even the disabled ones. Not even the ones who want money for school. Don't give them money, or candy, or pens. It's not generous. In fact, it's one of the most harmful—and selfish—things a well-meaning tourist can do.
Many travelers already know that when we give money (or gifts that can be resold, such as pens), we perpetuate a cycle of poverty and give children a strong incentive to stay out of school....
But the reasons to never, ever give to child beggars go much deeper than that. Organized begging is one of the most visible forms of human trafficking—and it's largely financed and enabled by good-hearted people who just want to help.
In India, roughly 60,000 children disappear each year, according to official statistics. (Some human rights groups estimate that the actual number is much higher than that.)
Many of these children are kidnapped and forced to work as beggars for organized, mafia-like criminal groups. According to UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, and the U.S. State Department, these children aren't allowed to keep their earnings or go to school, and are often starved so that they will look gaunt and cry, thereby eliciting more sympathy—and donations—from tourists. And since disabled child beggars get more money than healthy ones, criminal groups often increase their profits by cutting out a child's eyes, scarring his face with acid, or amputating a limb. In 2006, an Indian news channel went undercover and filmed doctors agreeing to amputate limbs for the begging mafia at $200 a pop. (Who knows how the little boy I met in New Delhi lost his legs.) To prevent the children from running away, traffickers often keep kids addicted to opium or other drugs.
And it's not just India. According to one U.S. State Department report, a man in Shenzhen, China, can earn as much as $40,000 per year by forcing enslaved children to beg. Horrific examples of trafficking in children (and the elderly) for the purposes of organized begging have been found in countries all over the world: Bolivia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Senegal, Pakistan—even Austria, other European countries, and the United States. No country is immune to human trafficking. And when trafficked children get too old to beg effectively, they often graduate into forced prostitution, the black-market organ trade, or other gruesome fates.
......It’s a devastating pill to swallow, since enslaved children who return to their captors without money might be beaten, tortured, or worse. But by giving them money, we only encourage the cycle, finance a horrific business model, and put future children in grave danger. When we give directly to children, we hurt more than we help.
So how can we know if a child beggar is a victim of trafficking? Actually, we don’t need to know: Even in the best scenarios, giving money or gifts directly to kids is always a bad idea. Tourists who give child beggars money, pens, or other trinkets can interfere with a family’s social dynamic and undermine the authority of those children’s parents, who can’t offer those kinds of gifts. Even giving children pens “for school” is problematic, since begging for pens to resell is a strong incentive to skip school in the first place. (And because many schools around the world prefer re-useable chalk and slate, many kids likely couldn’t use those pens in class anyway.) Physical gifts also undercut local businesses; after all, the woman who sells pens at her corner store probably has children to feed, too.
Simply put, as tourists, we just don’t have the knowledge, experience, or long-term investment in the communities we visit to understand whether our generosity might do more harm than good. Even the most seemingly harmless gifts often enable terrible suffering: A Consortium for Street Children report, for example, found that when tourists gave milk powder to child beggars in Brazil, the children traded that milk for crack cocaine. Yes, milk for crack.
The impulse to share our blessings with people we meet around the world is a wonderful and compassionate thing. But there are better ways to give. Established non-governmental organizations can ensure that charitable donations go to effective, sustainable projects, and they know how to implement positive change in minimally disruptive ways. Sending a check to a responsible NGO doesn’t feel intimate (and won't make a very interesting addition to the photo album) but it’s by far the best way a tourist can help.
(Corboy--exercise due diligence. Avoid groups where the promoter makes a cult of his or her own personality; see if a group coordinates with other groups and has a good, long term record. If you happen to be a serioiusly wealthy person or a foundation, interview former members of a group's board of directors before you make a substantial donation)
(And although it’s true that corruption exists off the streets as well, there are plenty of resources that evaluate national and international aid organizations.)
So we can’t say no. And we absolutely cannot say yes. What can we say?
Find an inventive, responsible way to be kind. Recently, I’ve been traveling with a small hand stamp. When kids approach me, I put a stamp on my own hand and give them the option to do the same. I’m sure some parents aren’t thrilled to see their kid come home with a stamp on her hand—or, in the case of one particularly excited boy I met in the Philippines, directly in the middle of his forehead—but it has been a fun and minimally disruptive way to interact and prompt a few smiles, including my own. One friend of mine travels with a lightweight animal puppet and another always ties three long ribbons to her backpack and uses them to show child beggars how to make a braid. The options are endless.
The imperative to not give money or gifts to child beggars doesn’t mean we have to turn our backs on them. Donate to responsible NGOs, and look for creative new ways to be kind to children that won’t disrupt familial dynamics, encourage long-term poverty, undercut local businesses, or abet human trafficking. Be generous: Leave those coins in your pocket.
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Kirsty June 10, 2013 at 7:46 am | Permalink | Reply
When visiting the lama I saw as my teacher in Kathmandu back in about 2002, it became clear that the quid pro quo for being his student was that I was expected to serve as guarantor for some Nepali people I’d never met, so that they could enter the US. This was not long after 9/11, I was on a green card. Apart from the obvious ethical problem, the potential for legal or medically-caused financial disaster was huge (which I’d also be inflicting on my not-involved husband).
But wasn’t one supposed to place oneself at the service of the guru?
Shouldn’t his wishes be your command?
I couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t do it. But then felt I’d ruptured the student-guru bond, and had to move on. It left me bereft for a while, but was the start of me feeling my way to my own, Western-based path, that is collegial rather than hierarchical.
That situation was relatively straightforward, compared to the really sticky situation of a teacher making sexual approaches, or becoming emotionally involved with students. Especially in Tibetan Buddhism with its yab-yum, crazy wisdom and Yeshe Tsogyal conferring enlightenment in sexual encounters. It would really help if those prominent in Western Buddhism addressed those mixed messages with force and clarity.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16503338
Eve teasing in India: Assault or harassment by another name
Nidhi Dutt By Nidhi Dutt BBC News, MumbaiQuote
was afternoon and we had just finished filming. My colleague and I were piling into a rickshaw, heading back to the bureau. And that's when it happened. We were suddenly surrounded by a group of boys, barely teenagers.
At first the whole thing seemed harmless, if a little predictable - the cheery interest of a group of bright eyed, smiling boys.
Their approach was not unusual, foreigners and cameras make for an unmissable attraction in India.
But it was only a matter of minutes, possibly seconds, before the smiles turned into a blur of pawing, grabbing hands. Their indecent behaviour was punctuated by cheers, laughter and explicit comments in Hindi.
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Undercover police officers patrol the country's beaches
And that was it. I had been Eve-teased. Or as we describe it in the West, sexually harassed. In broad daylight, on a street in a busy business district of Mumbai.
We managed to get away. Our rickshaw raced down the street in fits and bursts.
But those moments stayed with us - something unpleasant, unacceptable and from our perspective, unforgivable had just happened.
But we also felt the irony of what had just happened.
This kind of harassment, often described in India as innocent play, is commonplace. Yet this is a country in which the predominant Hindu religion worships female deities and claims to respect women. igilance
One man who wants things to change is Valerian Santos, Keenan's father. In an emotional speech at the vigil he urged the ordinary Mumbaikar to be more active in the pursuit of social justice. To stop when they see someone being harassed, to stand up for women's rights and name and shame those who sexually harass them.
Continue reading the main story
A misleading term
"Eve teasing" is used in India to refer to a wide variety of behaviour including molestation, "flashing" or any verbal/physical sexual street harassment that falls short of rape.
It's an archaic term. The "Eve" part comes from the Old Testament and describing harassment as "teasing" makes it sound almost like a mild romantic overture that should be tolerated - which of course it should not.
Many people have protested that it is time to change this terminology. The Network of Women in Media, India - a group of Indian women media professionals - has often voiced this demand. But unfortunately, though some news rooms have tried to drop it, it is still used, both in the media and in society more generally.
Sameera Khan, co-author of Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets
But Mr Santos also said change must be backed up by a legal system that works with victims and their families and not against them.
Valerian and a growing group of campaigners across the city are calling on the state government to overhaul the way in which it deals with crimes of a sexual nature. They say that it should not be possible, as it currently is, for the accused to come face to face with witnesses.
And neither should suspects be allowed to shave off facial hair or change their hairstyles while in custody - also allowed. Campaigners say this makes successful identification hard and weights justice in favour of the accused.
This shocking, violent case has made headlines across India. But it has also generated a new, welcome conversation about the treatment of women across the country.
The government here in Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, says it will work to make laws tougher and ensure that public areas are policed more vigilantly.
But as I've witnessed - and unfortunately experienced - it may be some time before things really change.
I was once told by a complete stranger: You can wear a trench coat and be covered from head to toe in the depths of an Indian summer but a man with indecent intentions will still try his best to ruin your day.
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[www.bbc.com]
Five men have been arrested in India charged with kidnapping and repeatedly raping a Japanese student.
Police in the eastern city of Calcutta say the assaults took place over a period of more than a month from 23 November and in at least two locations.
They say an organised gang is suspected of targeting single women tourists.
Increasing numbers of rape cases are being reported and highlighted in India, prompting widespread outrage.
Pallav Kanti Ghosh, a Calcutta police commissioner, told BBC Hindi that two of the men - said to be brothers - approached the 23-year-old victim as tourist guides after she arrived in the city and checked into a hotel in an area popular with foreign tourists.
"One of the men spoke very fluent Japanese," he said.
"They said: 'We are guides and want to take you sight-seeing.'
"They took her to Digha [a beach resort in West Bengal state] on 23 November. There they sexually assaulted her and robbed her of 76,000 rupees [£1,200] using her ATM card."
She was then taken to Bodh Gaya, the holiest site of Buddhism and a major pilgrimage and tourist centre.
"There, the men handed her over to other gang members," Mr Ghosh said.
The woman was held captive for several weeks and the assaults continued, he said.
In late December she managed to reach the city of Varanasi from where she travelled to Calcutta, lodging a complaint via the Japanese consulate on 26 December.
Mr Ghosh said three of the men were arrested near Bodh Gaya and two in Calcutta. The Hindustan Times newspaper said some were held after their mobile phone calls were intercepted.
He said police were searching for other members of what he called an organised gang, several of whom are reportedly proficient in Japanese.
Sexual violence in India has been in the spotlight since a student was fatally gang-raped on a bus in Delhi two years ago.
That and other cases have prompted a domestic and international outcry.
Other foreign women targeted by gang-rapists include a Swiss cyclist assaulted in central India in 2013 and a Danish tourist attacked in Delhi a year ago.
Rape laws have been toughened in response to the crimes but correspondents say this has failed to act as a deterrent.