Tag Archive | "help"
Begging in India and How to Actually Help the Poor
If you want to help Indian children, please don't give to child beggars. Of all of the advice I might give to individuals traveling to India - or most of the developing world - the most important one would be Don't give to beggars I realize this sounds cruel and callous. It feels cruel and callous to me, even when I know it's the best choice - especially when I'm sitting in an air-conditioned car in India, idling at a red light, and people who are clearly poor, clearly in need come to the window begging for a small handout. Just a few rupees, which, to an American or other Western traveler, is next to nothing. Change I probably wouldn't bother to pickup off the ground if I saw it. Can you ignore such clear need without guilt creeping up on you? I can't. I feel guilty for my Western extravagance when I see the numerous beggars in India. Very guilty. But I still don't give them any money. The reason is because I know - from a few simple economic principles - that giving to beggars is not a particularly noble deed. In fact, I'd say that giving to beggars in a poor, developing country - like India - is a bad act. It certainly doesn't seem that way - and I don't think givers give with bad intentions - but it's still a problem. Let me explain...
Continue reading...South Asian Women and Nepalis in Intercultural Relationships – Speak Out!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I've gotten a couple of requests from a few readers here at gorigirl.com that I was hoping all of you might be able to help with - consider it a community workshop of sorts. The topics of the day are intercultural relationships featuring either South Asian women or Nepalis. I think the people who wrote to me are most interested in connecting with couples of this sort, but any resources such as websites, articles, or books that people can recommend would be welcome as well.
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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