[lucifier]

Hi fellow samster,

It is me again. 4th post in straight flush. When I in the mood to write, I will just keep on writing. Sorry for that.

For those who cross the border at Poipet, and when you see all those beggars, I think for all those kind-heartened Singaporean, you all will be tempted to donate money to them. My advice is NO donate to them. It is not that I am bad / black heartened. Relax and see below for the explanation and see the alternative way to help them.

Why NO donate?
1. Some of these beggar - especially those small kids, might be controlled by those big boss behind. If u give them the money, your hard-earned money might fall into those bastard instead of all these small kids.

2. Even if the small kids work independently. Imagine that if u give them money, u are encourging those kids to be a "professional" beggar for life. For the reason why, imagine, in the family of those beggar. The mother of the small kid tell his son to go to beg to get some money. The son got a few dollars from the kind-heartened travellers. The mother see that it is an easy money and will encourage his son to beg instead of sending them to school. If the son go to school, the family will lose a soure of income. If they beg, there will be more allowance for the family. To all fellow samster, do you want the small kid to be a beggar forever or you want them to go to study for their better future. You choose.

How to help them without giving them money.
Buy some bottles of mineral waters and bread or other portable form of food at Aranyaprathet or even in Poipet. When the kid approach you for money, give them water or food instead. They will still gladly accept from you.

From my own experience, there is this pair of brother and sister beggar who ask me money. I offer my last bottle of mineral water to the brother. He is very happy and from his smile and laughter, u will never forget that. What a geniue smile and laughter. I saw him running to his sister to share the drink, and the 2 kids are running around happily, and drinking water from the bottle. And they says thank you to me. I jokely tell the boy to make sure share the drink with his sister after I walk away. They just laugh and smile at me. This had make a deep impression on me. My little help had help them to quesh their thirst under the hot sun. It might not be a big help but it sure play a part.

Another way to help them is especially those who offered to carry your luggage at Aranyaprathet. They pulled a cart and offered to offer a ride to those traveller. They can sit on top on the cart with their luggage and backpack. Then these people will use their own physical strength to pull you and the luggage with him. The one I employed dun wear a single footwear and is a humble guy. They do it gladly. The mistake I done is to sit on top of the cart with 2 of my friends and with our backpack. Thinking back, I think we are quite bad. Actually just the backpack will be enough. Those people are mostly Cambodian. They travel across the border every morning to use their physical strength to work and earn for a living. My advice is to employ them to carry the luggage, but only luggage, no human on top of the cart. Reward them reasonablly at the custom. This is their way to earn a honest living.