Postcard from Bishkek

We have a saying back in the UK, (or at least we had one back when I used to live there), that buses are like wise men … you wait for ages without seeing one and then, all of a sudden, three of them come along together.

It doesn’t matter what the timetable says, even if there are supposed to be ten or twenty minutes between buses on a particular route, they always seem to manage to cluster together and travel in packs.

I am often surprised how the same thing seems to happen with news stories.  They also seem to appear in “packs”.  Of course, that’s understandable.  Journalists always want to write about something topical so, it is natural that many of them are thinking about and preparing stories on the same topics at more or less the same time.   What sometimes surprises me, however, is that these stories can come from a variety of different sources around the world with no obvious stimulus.

Take the subject of street begging.  I have seen several articles on this subject in the recent past, but here I’ll mention just two.

 

One was on the BBC website and was about how travelers visiting poor and developing countries can get overwhelmed by poverty – in particular where children on the street are begging for money.

It made a number of telling points: children on the street are often being exploited by an adult – not necessarily their parent – who keeps the money, (the children may be working, unwillingly, for a gang leader or even a parent who may have, for example, a drug or alcohol addiction); some well off, enterprising kids can earn more on the street from “wealthy-by-comparison” tourists than they get in spending money from their parents; In both cases, the cash flow they receive from begging keeps the children out of school and on the path toward a life of begging.

Then, last week, for example, there was a tweet which suggested that the Mayor of Bishkek had “declared war” on beggars on the streets of Bishkek.  The link in the tweet was to a news item which was a little less strident, the headline merely noted that he had said that: “’beggars’ adversely affect the appearance of the capital and create emergency situations”.

It seems that he had been taking part in a meeting with law enforcement bodies, fiscal structures, (i.e the tax authorities), and the heads of local regional administrations.  In his comments he is supposed to have outlined a number of problems in policing, particularly in the work of district inspectors and “juvenile inspectors”, (that is inspectors dealing with juveniles and not young inspectors).  According to the reports he was saying that there has been an increase in juvenile delinquents, crimes such as “school rackets”, and vagrancy.   This rise from lack of inspectors It was in the course of making these observations that he referred to the fact that in the city, especially at busy intersections, the entrances to the trade and market centers, (i.e. supermarkets and department stores), there were an observable accumulation of persons engaged in begging, and noted: “that adversely affects the appearance of the capital, creates an emergency situation on the roads and annoys citizens and guests.”

Now, although I am not sure that there are an inordinate number of “beggars”, I have a certain amount of sympathy with him on that point.  They can create a negative impression, and they can be annoying; especially when they don’t take ‘No’ as an answer.

Let me say again, although you do see beggars here in Bishkek, I do not think there are a huge number especially when I compare the situation that I remember in Central London.

Many of the “beggars” are indeed children, and although some look as if they are too young to even go to school, whereas others may be 14 or 15.  Usually they are quiet and appear embarrassed or shamefaced as they sidle up towards one, either as you walking along the street or sitting quietly in a café.  They stand looking dejected and it is often difficult to hear them as they ask for “a few som”.

Some of the others are pensioners, who stand either outside a supermarket or by the side of the road by a busy intersection.  I always feel sorry for the pensioners.  Whereas it is true that the children have their whole lives ahead of them, the pensioners grew up in a different system where the state promised them a bright future and looked after them; literally “from cradle to grave”.  Then with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ruble crisis and so on, the social security net was whipped out from underneath their feet, their life savings disappeared or became valueless.  If they have no children, (or the children have emigrated to look for work), then they have little or no means of support and they either turn to selling what few possessions they have left, (books, kitchen utensils, some old nick-knacks that they no longer want or need), or standing in a crowded spot looking forlorn with their hands held out as they demean themselves and risk the disapproval of the passers by asking the local equivalent of that old phrase from the depression, “Brother, can you spare a dime.”

On some of the busy road junctions you can sometimes see invalids standing as the lights change and then walking down a row of cars as they wait for the green light, hand held out to receive what small change the driver might pass out to them.

One of the things that struck me soon after I came here was that many of the people are actually quite dynamic.  Rather than begging, for example, many of the propieshiy turn instead to selling something.  Back in the UK, you will often see buskers standing playing a violin or some other instrument with a bowl at their feet to collect thrown coins thrown down by passers by.  There are also the sellers of the Big Issue magazine, put together, (edited, printed and published by the homeless).  Here they tend to sell key rings or roses.  I suppose that at least they are doing something to “earn” the “charity” that they are seeking.

Then, of course, there are the bomshi, (tramps), who are clearly the worse for alcohol.  It seems clear that any money given to them is not going to be used to buy “bread” or the bus fair home.

During the summer months, some of the beggars may well live on the street; Children, for example, who have run away from home, perhaps to escape from a difficult situation, an abusive family member.  I sincerely hope that they aren’t living on the street at the moment; at this time of year the climate really is too inclement, (although a few years ago I saw a newspaper report about how many of the homeless children lived amongst the pipes transporting hot water to the city center apartment blocks which must offer at least some warmth and comfort).

 

As it happens, I rarely ever give money to street beggars even if I feel sorry for them.  I have no idea who they are or if they represent really deserving cases.    I prefer to channel through organizations like Babushka Adoption or the Karakol orphanage.

Andrei, on the other, is much more susceptible to the sight of propieshiy, reminding me that, “… there but for the grace of God …”.  He often gets into conversation with them and hears their stories and often will give far more than they ask for or I would be tempted to give.

Personally, I have no problem with them asking … sometimes people fall on hard times and there is little that they can do apart from throw themselves on the mercy and generosity of others.  It’s when they appear to complain as you shake your head and walk past that I have a problem.  They have the right to ask … but I have the right to say to say “No”, even if it make me appear “hard hearted”, unsympathetic and “Scrooge-ish”.

As I said, personally, I prefer to channel my efforts through organizations who know the situation on the ground; who probably know the people involved and who can make a positive and longer lasting contribution over a period of time rather than a “one-off”, momentary “donation”, where the “donor” has no idea if he is doing good or otherwise.

 

All of this attention on “street begging”, however, misses an important point.  The beggar is just a symptom of a social problem … each one has a story to tell, as Andrei constantly reminds me … I doubt many of them enjoy their “profession” and a lot of them would like to escape from it just as the runaway may want to escape an unpleasant home life.  The trouble is, “how can you run away from a life of begging on the street?”  In the words of the old Negro Spiritual: “… where you gonna run to?”

It’s all well and good talking about “declaring war” on beggars – although the Mayor apparently never did! – but as any doctor will tell you, attacking the symptoms without addressing the root cause is likely to only mask the problem and not resolve it.

 

 

 

 

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may be living on the streets – either alone, or with their families; others are working on the streets, begging or selling trinkets or shining shoes for sympathetic tourists.

But buying items or paying for work may not be much better than handing out free money – the dollars still might not go to the child, who is still living on the streets. Travellers wanting to help would do more good by donating to international or local organizations working with these children and their families.

ChildSafe International, a project that aims to protect children from abuse, cites evidence that street kids are vulnerable to exploitation, including by the sex tourism trade, which has been growing in countries like Cambodia. Travellers trying to help individuals unwittingly increase the risk. “By feeling pity, giving money and food, child labour on the streets – a growing business – is supported and the children are sustained on the streets,” the group, an initiative of the Cambodia-based Friends-International, writes on its website. A report by the Consortium for Street Children, a group of more than 50 non-governmental organizations that help kids on the street, included case studies of NGOs working to protect children from sexual abuse and prostitution in Cambodia and Bangladesh. There also have been cases of children being maimed in order to bring in more money from begging, a horrific practice dramatized in the film Slumdog Millionaire. CNN reported last year on the plight of one Bangladeshi child who had survived an attack by a gang trying to force him to beg.

Many travellers believe that giving food or school supplies is a safe alternative to money. But unless you are sharing a snack along with a child, he or she can turn around and sell, or trade, the goods. According to the Consortium for Street Children report, kids in the town of Salvador, Brazil, asked tourists for milk powder for their families after it became clear that the foreigners did not want to give cash. But the kids, who were drug addicts, were trading the milk powder for crack cocaine.

Amanda Rieder, a well-travelled high-school Spanish teacher in Philadelphia, said that initially when visiting a foreign land she would have the same reaction as anyone else:  “Oh, this poor kid; a dollar is nothing for me.” But after spending significant time in one place it became clear to her that “they don’t actually get to keep the money” and so she generally does not hand out money to kids when she travels.
All this well-founded advice is tough to follow when standing face-to-face with a cute kid who needs help. Both Rieder and Whitney admit that they haven’t always stuck to their own rules. “I’ve had kids who are really charming,” Whitney said, recalling a particularly persistent — and smiling — boy in the Philippines selling flowers. “In the end, I gave him a dollar. I couldn’t help it.”

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan