Poverty

Sometimes we should be just grateful of the opportunities and wealth we have. Traveling in developing countries puts our perception back into perspective. At home we complain when the bus is a minute late, the cappuccino too hot or the water in the pool a degree too cold. There is an awful lot of people in the world who don’t have this kind of problems as they have to survive day by day. The lucky ones have a little business like shoe cleaning or fruit selling but some have to come by begging. As a Westerner you are being approached quite a bit and how to deal with it is sometimes hard. It is a misery. Once you give one of them some money you are usually surrounded by a stream of others and you have to say no at one point.  Another option would be to donate money to the charities but after having seen the big brand new 4WD cars of the Red Cross parked in the most expensive area of Dhaka I wonder how much money gets directly to the people. It feels like whatever you do is not the right way. If you give money to the disabled people some people remind you that some disabilities are being used or even enforced to generate more money (you might have watched ‘Slum dog millionaire’).  I don’t know what the right thing to do is but I don’t give kids money as a principle. Well sometimes I buy them some food but I don’t give them money so that they are encouraged to rather find a job than beg the rest of their life. I try to give my money to the one who don’t have a chance and who are missing the social net to catch them like the elderly or sick people. If you have a better option, let me know.

hard worker