Responding to the Pleas of Children on the Street

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I am leery of donating to the big charities, as suggested in the article, because I know there is a huge bureaucracy and I don't feel like contributing to the lifestyle of the bureaucrats.

I recently traveled to Ethiopia. Near Bahir Dar, after hiking to the Blue Nile Falls, we were surrounded by a dozen children, all wanting to sell us a trinket. It was a bit overwhelming, so our guide got the kids to line up. I gave him 100 birr (about $12), and he bought an item from each of 10 children. It seemed to work well.

Amy Henderson

Leonardtown, Md.

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Three years ago, I was getting ready to cross a main avenue, and a woman holding a child approached and asked for money "for the sake of the child." I handed her $5 and said I wished I could do more.

After I crossed the street, I turned back to see the woman handing the child to another woman, and that woman approached a pedestrian and, I assumed, asked for money. A bystander told me that women using children to ask for money was a common practice in this particular city.

The city was Chicago, and I had crossed Michigan Avenue. We do not have to travel to foreign counties to help begging children; they are here in the United States.

Diana Suttenfield

Shepherdstown, W.Va.

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