Worldwide Poverty

I was having a discussion with Tiff Chin about the differences between poverty in LA and poverty in China, and thought I would share with you some of my thoughts to the poverty in China:

Poverty in China and Poverty in the States has a lot of differences, but a lot of similarities as well. I don't know if the city you are in has as great of a homeless population as Beijing, but when I stayed out there, I got a chance to really see poverty in one of the "biggest" cities in China... (Not at all saying that you aren't seeing poverty, I'm sure you are. I'm just saying that I've also seen it.)

I think poverty in China is a weird thing to begin with, because China, being a Communist society, should have done away with poverty and homelessness (theoretically). It makes me sad to know that even in a society that is supposed to have done away with social class and class structures, there is still a sense of hopelessness.

As I said, I don't know what poverty looks like where you are, but from what you say of homeless rings of beggars being run by one organization it sounds a lot like what I saw in Beijing.

I remember walking down the street in a "touristy" part of town, when a group of young children (probably 10-14 years old) walked up to me. Most were missing a hand or an arm. One little girl was horribly scarred on her face. It broke my heart to see this group of disabled children. My uncle (who lives in Beijing) quickly told me to ignore them and walk away. I was both stunned and ashamed at his callous attitude. But as we got farther away, he began explaining to me that in China, because they did not have many human rights laws, many parents sold their children to the black market to get out of debt or to get rid of their girls (this is also due to the one child law and the extreme desire to have sons). Once the child was sold to this begging ring, their arms, hands, feet or legs would then get chopped off, or their faces scarred with fire or oil. The thing about it is, they would do this on purpose!! The cold hard fact was that disfigured children tended to get more sympathy from tourists than perfectly healthy children. And sympathy on the streets translated directly to dollars and cents. So, you see, my uncle didn't want me to give money to these children, because if they brought back a lot of money, it would only encourage the "pimps" (as you so aptly put it) to continue this horrendous practice of hurting children for money.

I would find it hard to imagine for something like that to happen on the streets of LA. Not saying similar things don't happen, but to be so blatantly public, it would be hard for me to imagine. Homelessness is heart breaking everywhere. When people are forgotten on the streets; when the lost (not just spiritually, but socially) cannot find their way home; when children, the elderly, and the broken are treated like possessions and not people.