By: Matthew Solo
Books: Matthew Solo - Amazon
This is an article I came across months ago. We are not sure
of the author, however, we’ve checked the authenticity of this with our
followers in Bangkok and Cambodia. Surprisingly, this seems to be true, and
their request, is only to offer beggars food and water - not money. Any help
you can give in terms of their needs are just fine. But make sure you do not
hand over big bills, that will keep the begging industry going. You should be
wise enough to know whom to help and how to help. Make your decision based on
the situation and knowing it well enough.
“Near the metro station, sits a woman of uncertain age. Her
hair is confused and dirty, her head bowed in grief .
The woman sits on the dirty floor and next to her lies a
bag. Into that bag, people throw money. In the woman's hands, asleep, is a two
year old baby. He is in a dirty hat and dirty clothes.
“Madonna with baby” – numerous passers-by will donate money.
The people of our kind - we always feel sorry for those less fortunate. We are
ready to give unfortunate people our last shirt, the last penny out of our
pocket and never think another issue. Helping, seems like a “Good job done.”
I walked past the beggar for a month. I did not give any
money, as I knew that this is a gang-operated scam, and that money collected by
the beggar, will be given to whoever controls beggars in the area. Those people
own numerous luxury properties and cars. The beggar also gets something, of
course, “A bottle of vodka in the evening and a döner kebab.” A month later,
walking past the beggar, a shock suddenly hit me….
I’m standing at a busy crossing, staring at the baby. He is
dressed, as always, in a dirty track suit. I realized that it seemed “wrong”,
finding a child in a dirty underground station from morning to evening. The
baby was always asleep. He never sobbed or screamed, he always slept, burying
his face in the knee of a woman who was his MUM.
Do any of you, dear readers, have children? Remember how
often they slept at the age of 1, 2 or 3 years old? An hour, two, maximum three
(and never consecutive). An afternoon nap, and there was always movement. For
the whole month, every day I walked to the underground station, I never saw the
child awake! I looked at the tiny little man, with his face buried in the knee
of his mother, then at the beggar, and my suspicion was gradually formed.
"Why does he sleep all the time?" I asked, staring at the baby.
The beggar pretended not to hear me. She lowered her eyes
and hid her face in the collar of her shabby jacket. I repeated the question.
The woman again looked up. She looked somewhere behind my back, tired with
utter irritation. Her look was similar to the creatures from a different
planet.
"F *** off," her lips murmured.
"Why is he asleep?!" I almost cried.
Behind me, someone put their hand on my shoulder. I looked
back. An old man was looking at me disapprovingly:
"What do you want from her? Can’t you see how hard
she’s got it in her life? Eh?"
He took some coins from his pocket and threw them in the
beggar’s bag.
The beggar made a cross by waving her hand, portraying the
face of humility and universal grief. The guy removed his hand from my shoulder
and strolled out of the underground station. I bet, at home, he will tell how
he defended poor, distraught woman from a soulless man in a tube station.
Next day, I called a friend. He was a funny man with eyes
like olives. His nationality - Romanian. He only managed to complete three and
a half years of education. His lack of education did not prevent him from
moving around the City streets in expensive foreign cars and live in a “small”
house with a countless number of windows and balconies. From my friend, I
managed to find out that the beggar is part of a business. Despite the genuine
appearance, it is clearly organized. It is supervised by organized crime rings.
The children used are “rented” from families of alcoholics, or simply stolen.
I needed to get the answer to my question – Why is the baby
always sleeping? And I received it. My friend explained it to me, casually and
with a calm voice that twisted me in shock, just like he was talking about
weather report: "They are on heroin, or vodka."
I was dumbfounded. “Who is on heroin or vodka?!”
He answered, "The Child, so he doesn’t scream. The
women will be sitting whole day with him, imagine how he might get bored?
In order to make the baby slept the whole day, it pumped up
with vodka or drugs. Of course, children’s bodies are not able to cope with
such a shock. And children often die. The most terrible thing – sometimes
children die during the “working day”. And imaginary mother must hold another
dead child on her hands until the evening. These are the rules. And the by
passers-by will throw some money in the bag, and believe that they are moral.
Helping the mother alone."
The next day, I was walking near the same underground
station. I built up journalistic confidence and was ready for a serious
conversation. But the conversation didn’t work out. Instead, it turned out the
following way … the woman was sitting on the floor and in her hands she was
holding a different child. I asked her a question about the documents of the
child, and, most importantly, where was the child from yesterday. She simply
ignored me. My questions were not ignored by passers-by though. I was told that
I was out of my mind, questioning a poor beggar with a child. Eventually, I was
escorted out of the station in disgrace. The one thing that remained was to
call the police. When the police arrived, the beggar with the baby had
disappeared. I stood with a full sense of "trying to fight
windmills."
When you see in the subway, or on the street, women with
children, begging, think before your hand them your money. Think about it, that
if it wasn’t for your hundreds of thousands of handouts, the business like this
would have died. The business would die and not the children, pumped full of
vodka or drugs. Do not look at the sleeping child with affection... See horror…
Since you are reading this article, you know now why the child is sleeping in
beggars hands.
P.S.If you copy this article on your wall or just click
“Share”, your friends will read it too.
And when you decide again to open your wallet to throw a
coin to a beggar with a sleeping child,
Remember that this charity could cost another child's
life."
