Traveling Woes

Every time I travel to another country, I don't know how to respond to the poverty that I see. Honestly, it doesn't often shock me anymore. Probably because I stick to the well-trod tourist areas. In Vietnam, I've come across so many people, shop owners, touts, and walking salespeople, that are desperate to sell me something. Its so tiring. And then there are the children selling things. I know know know that I should not buy from them, but I have on this trip. One kid said we could play tic tac toe, and if he won, I would buy a postcard. Of course he won, he's a trained tic tac toe professional. I didn't let him go with learning his secret though.

Yes, I know that by purchasing items from children, I am encouraging child labor, or worse, child servitude. I am perpetuating the cycle. If people didn't buy from children, then maybe they would be in school instead of out on the streets selling junk to stupid tourists. But I do it anyways. Don't ask why.

Today, after we had boarded a bus and were waiting on it to leave, a young guy, maybe 10 or 11, and maybe mentally handicapped, came on the bus to beg. One of the men from the bus company saw him and began shooing him off, then another guy smacked him in the back of the head while another one literally kicked him off of the bus. He went to the curb crying. I was so angry that they would treat him that way. Then, as soon as the man from the bus company was gone again, the kid got on the bus again to beg. This time, the bus man came back with a stick to hit him. I was shocked. Filled with righteous indignation as my former social work professor would say. You just can't treat people that way. I stared at the bus man, trying to burn a hole through his forehead. He smiled at me, I glared, probably for too long. How can a whole busload of people just sit around, see what happened, and not say anything. The bus man got on the bus and explained in broken English that the kid was a "professional pickpocket." It eased my anger a little, but only a little. Maybe the bus man was trying to protect us from getting things stolen, but you still can't just go around smacking children and hitting them with sticks.

I'm not sure where I am going with this story. But traveling always leaves me with the feeling that I am contributing to some sort of problem. Tourist dollars revitalize some communities, and many places really depend on them for survival. But it seems like tourism creates seedy, undesirable consequences in most of these communities. Prostitution, child labor, jobs that consist of hassling people all day long to buy your product or use your service.

I always look for the best deal on whatever souvenirs I buy. Sometimes prices are remarkably low. Does that mean that the person making these things is remarkably underpaid...and poorly treated? It makes me wonder how exactly one can travel ethically. It seems like everything you do these days contributes to one or more of the ills of society. Global warming, global poverty, unfair trade, inhumane labor...