Stop Child Abuse! Stop Child Beggers!

Pasar Malam, Shopping complexes, Bus stations, LRT stations, banks, under the overhead bridge...What do all these places have in common?

You might be thinking, Hey, these are places I pass by all the time. Whether its going to work, to eat, to shop, to do what ever routine in our daily life.

And if we are alert enough we  might sometime see/encounter children wandering aimlessly, alone, begging for money. And these children may appear begging in different ways;

1. An adult and a child begger

I have seen this type of begging happening alot. An adult probably the child's mother or father will bring a child with them, asking for money. People will pity them seeing that the child is dirty, malnourish and start to "donate" money. But the reality is, are these adult the real guardian of the children or are they just using children for money. Abusing the children for money as they themselves are lazy to get a job.

And reality is, some of this children might be victims of kidnapping. I once encountered an adult bringing a chlid begging for money in a hospital. Read more here. And the way he acted made me suspicious on whether a father will do that to his own child.

2. Selling bookmarks with religious verses

This type of begging happens alot outside banks, at petrol stations and at bus stations. I have encountered children begging in these place. They came to you claiming that they are selling the bookmarks or cds to raise money for their school, their home (orphan home), or to support their poor family. Personally I don't believe any of it. You may say that I am a heartless person. but hey, I have encountered child begger that ask a minimum donation. Can you believe that?

This happen when I was in the bus and this child came up and distributed book marks with verses from the Quran. He gave them out, sort of like wanting to sell them. Each costing RM 2. I saw this woman who didn't want to buy the book mark but gave a RM 1 donation. You know what happen. This kid had the nerve to say " Seringgit tak cukup, Kurang kurang pun 5 ringgit" My damn!

I think he might have been given a quota to fill each day. There may be a syndicate behind it. The boy might be required to beg for a certain amount of money so that he stays unharmed. Hell, I don't know if that is true. But that is what I watch in Movies, take Slummdog Millionaire for example.

Using children to beg for money is wrong. Maybe their parent cannot afford to support the child, maybe the child has no parent. Whatever the reason is, a child should be protected. He/she does not know right from wrong. When the child grows up. What do you think will happen? Go on begging for the rest of his life?

Stop Child Abuse! One act of child abuse I never want to see happen again is using children to beg for money!




Support the Unicef move! Raise your Hand! Stop child abuse now! Together we can make a difference! (Sounds abit cliche. haha)

Peace out!