Responding to the Pleas of Children on the Street

Last month, we published an article by freelancer Lori Robertson on the ethics of travelers' giving money to street children ["Begging: The Question," Jan. 14]. The article, which quoted experts recommending that travelers donate to charitable organizations rather than to individuals, provoked strong opinions from readers. Here are some of their responses.

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With very few exceptions, I see it as wrong to give money to children or anyone who is begging, but who is not obviously disabled. With insistently begging children, I generally ask them to give me money each time they ask me. If the children say they need money, I say that I need it, too. I do this in the same way they asked me, though with a smile on my face, making it fairly obvious that I am kidding. They usually drop back to move on to someone who is easier.

Dwayne Shreve

Elkton, Md.

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In 1970, on my first of many professional trips to Chile, I asked a friend how she responded to the pleas of hungry children at the marketplace. She responded: "First I take a loaf of bread from my basket and give it to them. If they or their family are starving, they will at least have a little food. Then I go home and increase my contribution to Planned Parenthood." I have followed her advice ever since.

Vera Rubin

Washington

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We recently returned from a two-week trip through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake outside Siem Reap, Cambodia, I took a picture of a boy floating in a wash bucket almost instinctively: I looked at him, he gave me the peace sign and I snapped the picture. I regretted it almost immediately, as he began shouting, "You take picture, costs $1." I normally wouldn't have given him money, but as I had inadvertently made a "purchase" I felt obligated to pay.

As I made my way to him, I attracted an even larger crowd of kids begging for money. Turning my back on them was hard, but I think the right thing to do, for the reasons noted in your story.