I don’t think I’m a cruel person, harsh maybe, but not cruel. But I got into an arugment with someone I was travelling with in Cambodia over my refusal to buy stuff off kids who were selling their wares on the street or in the markets. Let’s just say I’m an academic – can’t be arsed getting into the specifics of what I do. I do not want to perpetuate the problem of kids ditching school in order to effectively beg tourists for money. Yeah, I know that they make more money that way, but it’s not like the kids get that money for themselves. It goes to their families or their “pimps” (for lack of a better term). It’s not like these adults who send their kids out then use that money to send their kids to school.
The countries where I’ve seen this issue with kids selling stuff are all third world. The majority of the population live in abject poverty. Call me naïve, but I believe the best way to get out of poverty is through education. Cambodia relies heavily on agriculture for income. I get that they probably don’t need masses of people with arts degrees. But getting people to go to school and learn about more modern agricultural methods or a class on economics could help improve their lot in life and in the wider global community. School could focus on the relevant needs of the people they’re teaching. No, they probably don’t need to know linear algebra or general relativity…But a course in land management or soil chemistry might be incredibly useful. School can be practical. But by forcing these kids into begging from the age of 3-4, they’re not doing their kids or the future of the country any favours.
So that’s my stance on it. I won’t buy stuff off kids on the street no matter what sob story they come up with “I need the money for school”….Bullshit. They’re back out there again the next day with the same sob story playing it up to some sucker tourist. I won’t fall for it. Most of these places have some degree of free education for kids. So that really isn’t an excuse. I won’t apologise for my point of view on this. I think that education is vitally important for bringing these countries out of this poverty. And sending kids out to beg rather than sending them to class only does more harm than good in the long run.
