A couple of weeks ago I gave some money to a couple of poor children at the Saigon Central Market. When I gave two children 16,000 dong (1 USD), they told their friends and their group of their friends came and asked me for cash. I didn't have 16,000 dong in paper money on me because my bills were in 100,000 (6 USD) paper bills - and I didn't want to give them each that much money. So, they stayed around me and asked me for money while I waited for the bus. When the bus arrived, I stepped onto the bus and accidently tripped on the steps. When I fell, the group of children beggers laughed really hard because they were hurt that I didn't give them any money. They were putting in the effort to laugh very loud and long because they wanted me to hear it while I was inside the bus. But I acted like the fall didn't hurt my knee and ignored them while they continued laughing outside the bus. I know that denying them money hurts them a lot - that is why they laughed as they did. But this incident discourages me very much to give the poor children beggars any money. Even though I am discouraged, I still am ambivalent towards giving children beggars money.

I am curious to know if these children have other legitimate means of earning their income aside from begging (meaning that they are taking the easy way of making money) OR are they just begging because there are no other income earning opportunities available (they have no way out of begging - they are just born into that situation where they must beg for sustenance).

How the hell should we know? It's like asking why American people go out and beg for money. What other way can they get money? They can't get a job. This is a really stupid topic. If you would've just left this question out of it and maybe say ok, I helped a kid in need.

It may sound weird but i encourage Viet Kieu to never give money to the beggars in VN.

in asia, some times the parents are the culprits, telling their children to beg for extra money..while in china, ive been begged lots of times, but reserved to just give money to strangers...

one time while i was drinking beer and smoking a cigar, a little kid came up and asked for cash, i gave him 1 rmb, after a while another such kid came and asked for the same thing, so i gave it out...what do you know, another little kid, this time a clean, well groomed little girl came out and asked me, after i said i dont have cash left, she kept begging and begging, begging!!! so much i had to get up and leave!!! sheesh...
so yea, keep away from these kids, its more so their parents that tell them to beg, not actually the kids...

if a person has 2 arms, 2 legs and a healthy mind, there is no such reason to beg, just work!!! even worst, dont tell the kids to do the dirty job, some times i cant stand how asians living in asian do things...

yah i feel bad for them, but my cousin tell me never to give them any because they will bring more and more kids and nag you.. some beggars hire babies and pretend its their's.

There always exceptions but in general, I am wary about giving money to beggars - Charles D!ckens and his description of children beggar gangs and their adult masterminds come to mind. In India, there are gangsters who kidnap children and mutilate and blind them to make fit for a life of - you guessed it, of beggary.

Give money to non-profits, NGOs, the local church, the local pagoda or get to know and help an entire family. Never give money to beggars without considering what could go wrong and sometimes horribly wrong - the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

few months ago I read somewhere a whole family go out doing their begging and go back to their VERY nice home at the end of the day. I read on one of those online Viet news websites.

I usually don't hand out money to beggars who are aggressively asking. If I see a person in need, I would give.

I've heard conflicting contentions about this. People say they're born into begging with no way out and some say they have opportunities to get out of begging. So I was wondering if anyone here knows which side the reality lies.

Come on man, Not like you giving them your fortune. $8,000d is only about $.50cents in US. Are you that cheap?

If there are five children begging for money, you give them $5000d, thats only $.30cents each. So for five children, that's only about $1.50 dollar.

Giving comes from the heart. When you give, don't ask why.

$.50cents means nothing to you, but it means a lot to poor children. They can buy enough candies to last a whole day.

By giving, you make a child happy. If there are 5 children , you make 5 of them happy.

Why f@cking cheap americans are so stingy about $.30cents is beyond me? Remember, when you give, give it from the heart and don't ask why. If you dont want to give, then shut the f@ck up and don't complain.

Dude. I had about 32,000 dong (2 USD) in smaller bills. I gave that to the couple of kids. Each received around 16,000 dong (1 USD) in smaller bills. The the rest of my bills were in 100,000 dong bills (6 USD), which is mostly what they give you at the foreign exchange bank.

There is no way I can give the swarm of kids 100,000 dong (6 USD)each. That was a LARGE group of kids and more keep coming. It wasn't just the beggars, but the kid vendors (selling postcards, gum, and shoeshiners) joined in as well. Have you been at the Saigon central market? There's a whole ton of kid beggars and wandering vendors there. I would not have enough money for the entire trip if I gave them that much 100,000 dong (6 USD) each - I didn't have my atm card nor my credit card with me as pickpocketting is rampant in VN so there was no other source of funds for the entire trip. Furthermore, I can't give a FEW 100,000 dong bills to a few kids and ask them to split it up with the others. Who would enforce that? How could you foresee that it would be enforced?

happened to me once...I out-sprinted them












poor kids...I feel so bad. Next time I go back, I'll be more generous.

i knew some people who were down on their luck, no cash, family had only a few friends....they never begged and they were from america...its the principle, not the money....

even if a begger asked me for a buck and i had millions of them, i would rather give it to red cross and let them handle it...

And I also know a bunch of people who were down on their luck, no cash, not alot of friends, and from America but they did begged for money. It's the matter of who you ask/know really...

The homeless in the US spend a sizable portion of their income (from begging) on cigarettes and alcohol; they spend far more on these luxuries than on necessities (food).

oh yeh it happened to me to. giving money to one kids turned out to be a bunch of kids. But are those kids viet or nguoi mien.
But the lady who was selling drinks next to me shu...ed them away.

i was reading a viet newspaper and it says they have a leader. if they don't bring back a certain amount to their leaders at the end of the day they get beaten or go without food.

i only give out money to old people bcoz its less likely more would come out of no where and i could outrun them.

Don't give money, give food instead.

You're lucky you didn't get rob by those kids.

the thing makes me sad indeed is those beggars, they are piteous children, they don't know what they do because they just follow what the persons behind them have taught them. I really get angry with those unprincipled people, they might kidnap children and force them to beg for bringing money back to them. A thing makes me get very indignant with the unprincipled parents who have born them force is they force their children to beg .
Damn it