Responding to the Pleas of Children on the Street

Darryl Drevna

Alexandria

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We worked with street kids in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for 5 1/2 years and found that giving money only kept the kids on the street longer. Many of our younger street kids had a quota they had to reach before they could come home at night. Of course the kids always asked us for money, but we offered to sit with them and play a game (Uno was a big favorite), play soccer or draw with them. They would never ask for money again after that.

Bev and Knox Swayze

Montclair, Va.

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I've never given money to street children but only handicapped adults while traveling in Ghana, Togo or Niger. I have given children pencils or pens, crayons, hard candy, hotel-size bars of soap, sewing kits, handkerchiefs, rubber bands and balloons, and I have bought them food from nearby vendors. Once, just before leaving a village, I distributed 20 T-shirts; the kids squealed with delight.

Generally, if I'm in a country more than two weeks, I wear local dress. As an African American, I am not inundated by the youngsters unless I'm at a major tourist attraction, and then these youngsters are trying to sell me something.

I do contribute funds to a few international orphan-relief NGOs.

Diane Waldo

Hyattsville