Giving Back To The Streets, My experience.

[Guest Utopia]

Years back in my hometown of San Diego there were several dozen, too young, Mexican boys that lived in a local park. And at night time they would sell themselves.

 

One early afternoon I was cruising the loop and one of the kids came up to my car and asked if I would buy him some food. He didn't ask for money, he didn't try to "sell himself" just wanted something to eat. He was about 10 years of age and appeared very sincere in his request. So I told him to hop in and we drove to the local Jack In The Box. I noticed when he got his food that part of it he was wrapping in a napkin. I asked him if he wanted something else (even though he selected what he wanted to eat) and he said no ... that he was saving this for his friends.

 

When I dropped him off about a dozen kids gathered around him and they all were grabbing at the food. I drove on ... determined to get back to my cruising yet the image was bugging me. It was driving me crazy all these hungry kids, living in a park, making about $25.00 a trick, dodging INS and SDPD. I headed back to the area they were at and motioned to the kid who originally approached me. BTW he was one of the few that even spoke some broken English.

 

I explained to him that I wanted to buy food for all his friends and that he should come with me to help pick it out. His face lit up an image I won't forget.

 

After that day for the next year almost every early afternoon I would drive down to the loop, one of the kids would hop in, we would head off to buy a bunch of food and take it back. As winter approached the need for food turned to a need for clean socks and blankets for them to use at night.

 

I probably spent more money that year than I had. Yet I felt I was doing the right thing. Often boys would vanish and others would appear. Most were picked up by INS .. yet I had bonded with several. I had decided that I wasn't going to preach to these kids, I wasn't going to play "Dad'' I just wanted to fill a desperate need that they had. After all many of these kids left Mexico and even further South somehow made their way to the US for a "better life." And yes many of them did drugs and many were probably not model citizens yet that wasn't the issue. They were 8- 12 years old and in need.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to share this experience. And wondering if anyone else has had a like experience?

 

===

"You realize that life goes fast

It's hard to make the good things last"

[Guest msclonly]

Very kind of you!

 

Probably the most effective use of every penny compared to many Charities.

 

:-)

[Luv2play]

My mother always said, "what goes around, comes around", and I have always believed that. What you did for those Mexican kids was an extraordinary act of kindness. Similar blessings will come your way, one way or another.

[Guest niceguy]

Hey Utopia

 

What a wonderful post. You sound like a great guy. Very uplifting and a great example of making a direct impact on someone else's life. All the best.

[Guest sucker]

On my first visit to RIO there were street urchins near the hotel who would always come up to me for money...or when you went to the juice bar across the street they would beg for food.

 

I ignored them because of the notorious stories Id hear about gangs of kids robbing you...particularly at the beach. You could always tell them from regular kids because they didnt wear flip flop shoes or anything like that...so they could run faster, after theyve grabbed something from you.

 

Anyway, I felt badly having to turn these kids down, but i did.

I vowed on my next trip to RIO i would buy them food at the juice bar when they approached. On my return to RIO, there they were, and I did buy them food at the juice bar and they were so grateful!

Its something i look foward to now!

 

But you still have to be careful of the roaming gangs of kids who can be dangerous!

[HooBoy]

Dear Utopia,

 

I love hearing stories like yours.

 

Any charitable participation, I typically do anonymously, but I would like to share this...if it works for you fine, if not...no big deal.

 

First, I do not ever give beggars anywhere money. It disgusts me to see able bodied men and women begging for handouts rather than trying to get a job.

 

An aside: My great respect went to a black man in Houston who would go office to office, including mine and offer to wash my windows for $10.. Not only did he do an outstanding job, but I gave him more than he asked for and all the free Diet Pepsi he could consume on a hot, humid Houston day. (Damn, I probably screwed up the economy for the office park in my area - an upscale section of Houston.) But I admired him because rather than begging on the street corner, he created something as simple as washing windows. I say simple -- in the Houston heat, I would not have lasted 2 minutes.

 

In those days, I drove a car and I always carried fruits and other food to hand out to the beggars at the freeway underpasses. It wasn't money, but I figure if I give them money, they'll go out and spend it on booze, cigarettes or crack. So a bag full of plums or something I picked up from Burger King actually would bring smiles to many of their faces.

 

And there is no greater feeling inside to see that. IMHO.

[Guest Gringo]

I recall a man in Baltimore who would stand on a busy street corner with a cardboard sign around his neck--"homeless, hungry vet." Sometimes cars caught at the light would pass a dollar out the window. But one night I watched as he crossed the street where he was picked up in a not-too-shabby mercedes. i couldnt believe this was a scam, but i watched him get picked up more than once by that mercedes. Another man on another corner had a sign which read, "Will work for food." I offered some gardening work, but he didn't feel up to that. I wonder just how hungry he was. But my favorite was a man who worked a side street leading into a gay cruising park. His sign read, "Hungry, Hot and Hung." That worked for me. I told him to get into my car. Wasn't a bad afternoon.:+

[TotallyOz]

OMG. That is the perfect sign. I think if I saw that on Christopher Street, I would tip as well.

 

But, Gringo do you care to elaborate on the details on the afternoon? You knnow, I love your stories!

[HooBoy]

Dear Gringo,

 

On my first trip to Acapulco around 1982, I was amazed at the number of women sitting on blankets with their hands held out and next to them on the blanket live babies. The women with the pathetic look of desperation in their eyes would be imploring "pobre, Poe favor."

 

I determined then that and there that I should start the "FAMOUS SCHOOL FOR BEGGARS."

 

Upon graduation, you get a blanket, a baby and a Cadillac Eldorado to take you to your villa on that mountain there.

 

Well, I think someone beat me to the punch, but I still think that is how it works.

 

I was staying in the Acapulco Princess across the mountain and found Stephen King's "The Shining" far more interesting than the scams of Acapulco. Since it was about a hotel, it made my trip to Mexico even more interesting. As I do everywhere I stay in the world, I filled my hotel room with flowers and rarely left my room.

 

The guy who drives the 550SL at night and has his hand out during the day graduated from my school or one like it.

 

Thank you for your always amusing stories.

 

--garbo

[Luv2play]

Normally, I would ignore street urchins wherever I encounter them but in Rio I had a different experience. I am a Sunday painter so whenever I travel I take my sketchbook and colored pencils along. Rio is a great place to sketch and during the days (before I headed off to the saunas)I took the opportunity to sketch local scenes.

 

One day I sat down on a convenient post on a corner and sketched a street market, which was a rich profusion of flowers, fruits and vegetables and meats. Everything was displayed under brightly colored striped awnings and people were thronging the market (incidentally, this market was just across the street from the infamous Corihjous (sp)restaurant.

 

Before long I had about 10 or 12 street urchins peering over my shoulders, staring at me from off to the left and right and generally commenting on the progress of my work. I was there for two hours or so and they remained the whole time, smiling and holding up their thumbs (an apparent sign of approval). I smiled back at them, somewhat embarrassed since I could not communicate in their language, but they were so guileless it was an enchanting time.

 

After I had packed up and left I had a warm feeling about those kids. I bet if given the chance, they would love to do art. I know I did when I was their age but I had the luck to have parents who indulged my artistic bent with art lessons. If only those street urchins had a similar break...:-(

[+ Axiom2001]

Kind, sir. (And the title is positive, for I've forgotten your avatar!) No, I have personally not had a similar experience, but I must applaud you for your humaneness and generosity. There are far too many homeless (documented as well as undocumented) men/women, boys/girls in this country of plenty.

 

I thank you for sharing a heart-warming saga. PS I know where this area is in SD although I live up north in CA.

[Guest Gringo]

Hooboy, I'm sure your finishing school produces only the best of graduates. Thanks for your kind words. I regret that I did not have an opportunity to meet you in Sampa, but hope one day to meet you face to face in a room filled with flowers. :+

[Chuck50]

I too have had good and bad experiences. In Wash DC I too have encounterd the beggar getting into the Caddilac. But I have also encountered the beggar getting into the box at night. SOme one once told me. It is not ours to determine who is telling the truth or not. It May be Jesus asking us for whatever we can or wish to give. Or if we are willing to help those less fortunate than us.... Let some one else like our maker "Be the Judge"

 

 

HUGS Chuck

[jackhammer91406]

In my ten years as a pastor in a homeless ministry, it became easier and easier to tell who was truly needy and who was scamming. By the way, the term the homeless out here use for holding a sign asking for help is " flying the ramp" which stems from working with a sign at a freeway off ramp. I find now that I will often feel prompted to take someone truly needy into a supermarket or deli to buy them a meal. Often , when I eat out, I will take half of my dinner to go (simply because portions in the US are way too big) and will usually find someone on the way home to give it to.

 

In RIO one evening, on the way home from Corijinhas (sp?) Alex said he was hungry. We had just left a restaurant, but I swear that kid was always eating something ...heheh. anyway, there's a fast food place on the way back to the hotel, and so we stop and he orders something to go. I think they looked like some kind of custard tart or something and came a bunch to the box. Anyway, we're walking back to the Atlantico, and several young street kids (very needy by the look of them) came up and asked him for some. In the only action I ever saw Alex take that disappointed me, he tried to shoo them away. I stopped him and made him give two to each kid, leaving him with about four or five. Alex took the correction with good spirit and then laughed on the way back to the hotel when I teased him about saving his waistline for him.

 

To all who have shared stories of lending a helping hand to less fortunate, GOOD ON YOU.

Blessings

[Guest Utopia]

Thanks guys for those responded to this thread. It is nice to know that others have tried to give a litle back when they can as well.

 

My experience was out of the ordinary for me. I think it happened because these kids were so young and had few to no resoruces available to them.

 

 

===

"You realize that life goes fast

It's hard to make the good things last"

[Trixie]

I've met many a street urchin in my travels, both at home and abroad. There are many scams afoot, especially in underdeveloped countries where rich(er) tourists frequent. These kids, 10-14 or so, have developed their techniques into quite an art form... God forbid anyone ever teach them poker or billiards, and then unleash them on Atlantic City.

Not to make light of their situation, however. No matter how practised their routines, most kids you'll encounter begging on the streets do need a helping hand, even if just for a moment. Some of the most heartbreaking cases I've encountered were in Ethiopia. Not just kids begging, but kids on crutches, kids missing arms or legs or eyes. Kids who have no shoes, fast runners, flip-flops or otherwise.

But still, they are on the streets to do business. Begging doesn't come naturally to children, they either learn how to do so from family or friends, or they learn how to push foreigners' buttons. It's a game of strategy. I always like to make it fun for them by talking to them, calling their bluff, getting to know them. If you can communicate, then suddenly you're not just a vending machine to them anymore. They respect you, and are curious.

A young boy I met in Konso, Ethiopia was such a case. He folowed me around incessantly, with a sadder-than-sad face, imploring me to buy the little wire bracelets he had. Given that he actually spoke amazingly good english, I bought him a coke and sat and talked with him a few minutes. He brightened up immediately as we exchanged names, personal histories, etc. After about twenty minutes, my 4WD having been repaired, refuled and ready to go, I presented him with a brand new t-shirt (I always buy 1/2 dozen inexpensive shirts to travel in). His smile could've generated enough power to light up NYC!

He gave me one of his bracelets (which i shall always treasure as one of my best souvenirs ever)

and ran off to show his friends his new prize.

A one-on-one experience, such as that which the author of this thread described, is richer both for the child, and the "giver" involved.

La Trix

[HooBoy]

My heart breaks with them all, whether I think they are scamming me or no.

 

These are kids and would that I had the financial resources, I would spend them all on these kids to let them know there is hope and they can accomplish anything they dream --

 

Unfortunately, in reality that may not be the case.

 

But the poor who live on the Mountaintops (favelas?) of Rio still have the ultimate property and view.

 

Can you just imagine the poor on the Peak In Hong Kong! Or Tantalus in Honolulu, Nob Hill in San Francisco?

 

Hell, makes me want to be muito (very) pobre in Rio rathaer than muito pobre in San Paulo.

[Guest Gringo]

Years ago I had a conversation with a shoe shine boy named Kennedy. He told me he had seen the poor people of America on tv. He told me they sleep in alleys in New York City and when they wake up, snow has grown on top of them. "Here," he told me, "I wake up each morning and from my favela I see the Christ Statue and the beautiful beach of Copacabana. I grab some fruit from the trees as I make my way down the hillside and take my morning bath in the Atlantic Ocean. Who do you think is a happier poor man? Me or the man with snow growning on top of him in New York City."

 

Well, there used to be some measure of security that the man in New York City woke up in America. But that's not so true anymore. I think I would rather be the man waking up to the beautiful view of Rio than to find snow growing on top of me.

 

:+

[Huey]

You guys are so scoially generous. I wish I had a story to add, a few donations to various organizations is about all though.

 

Good for those of you who take it directly to the streets .