Beggars in Thailand—What’s the Real Story?

One of the most difficult things about staying in this country, or any poor country, are the beggars (or I suppose, to be more accurate, the poverty). You’ll find them trolling any of the tourist areas and even around the university bars here in Chiang Mai, going from bar to bar with their cups and bowls and asking for change. Some are mothers with babies in their arms. Some are crippled, deformed, or blind. Some are just children, alone. All are dressed in rags.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for these people and you want to help them, but as always in Thailand, there may be more going on behind the scenes than you realize. Many of these beggars are actually controlled by gangsters who drive them from place to place and make them beg. They give them a place to stay and enough to eat, but all the money they get from begging goes into the gang’s pockets.

I’m no expert on Thailand’s social problems, but apparently it goes even further than that. While some of the people who are missing limbs are the victim’s of unexploded ordinance from Vietnam and Laos, others are the victims of something more sinister. Again, don’t quote me on this, but I’ve heard it said more than once that some gangs will actually take people’s limbs and put them to work doing this because they know that people who are visibly crippled will get more money.

And it seems common knowledge that many of the children you see going alone are kids smuggled from Cambodia or even sold by their families and put to work begging.

This is all pretty shocking for someone from the first world—and on second thought, I imagine it’s petty shocking to anyone in this world with half a heart.

So What Do You Do About It?

It’s hard not to want to help when someone with rags comes to you while you’re sitting in a bar, living your cush, easy life in a country where your money is exponentially more valuable. But there’s a lot of sense in the argument that any money given to these people, even if they’re being victimized, only perpetuates the system that victimizes them. And most of us don’t want to do that in any way, shape, or form.

To be completely honest, sometimes I give them money and sometimes I don’t. I try to get a feel for what angle their working, but obviously since I’m not from this culture, there’s no way for me to have much of an educated guess about what’s going on behind the scenes. I refuse more often than not, but sometimes I just go with my gut.

Usually, even if I don’t give money to the kids, I play and joke with them a little bit, and I often see the same faces coming through. Just like any kids, they like to play around, get picked up, and maybe some thumb wars. I hope some of them have an actual family taken care of them and aren’t being held captive, but there’s no way for me, an outsider to know. I’d recommend if you are in a situation where you know for a fact a child is being held against their will, contact the authorities, but whatever you do, don’t confront these people as they can be very dangerous and this is not America or England here.

All that said, I have met and know some people who live here in my apartment building who are deaf and go to the college, and I’ve seen them out selling stuff in the bars, so I’m pretty sure there are many of them who are honest in their intentions, but which ones? There’s really no way to know.

To Each Their Own

The only piece of advice I can give you is explaining that in my own case, I am much more likely to give money to someone if they come with something to sell, like small snacks, roses (for the ladies in the bars and restaurants), or cool little light-up toys you might see in a rave setting. I’d much rather encourage a little entrepreneurial spirit than someone playing on my sympathy for a couple baht anyways (although I cannot really judge someone’s actions if I’ve never been in their shoes).

Even better, do some research on charities that are actively working to alleviate these problems in Thai society. Chances are your money will be better spent if given to them and maybe we’ll see this problem diminish a bit. It’s more than anything the sign of a nation in transition from subsistence living to a more modern existence, and these growing pains are ugly in any culture—especially at the pace they occur these days.

How you choose to deal with it is up to you—and I’d be glad to hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

What would say or what do you do when in this situation?