So after the blow that we weren’t going to be able to get Anya – we continued shopping and went to lunch with Tami and Steve. Went to Dominos (yes, the pizza place – for those familiar with Irkutsk, we went to the one on Lenin St. across from the stadium). While we were there, a little boy (maybe 10-12 years old) came in. He was begging. Kids beg here a lot. Steve and Tami told us that a study was done, and these kids bed for money not because they need it for food, but because their parents need the money for alcohol or drugs. Apparently, kids are more profitable beggars than adults are.
This boy came to our table, wanting money for food. Steve told him he would give him a piece of pizza, but no money. And he would only get the pizza if he sat at a table by us to eat us. The boy complied, and Steve gave him the pizza.
Then the owner (maybe the manager?) of the restaurant came over to the boy. Generally, the kid-beggars will get kicked out of places like this. The owner showed compassion and brought over some hot tea and a pastry to accompany the pizza from Steve.
About the time I was really feeling sorry for this poor kid, he got up and ran out of the restaurant. He didn’t drink the tea, finish the pizza or touch the pastry. He ran across the street, jumped over a fence and he was gone.
I don’t know why he decided to leave. Or why he didn’t at least take the food with him. What I do know is that kids shouldn’t beg for money for ANY reason. I don’t blame this boy – he is only doing what he has seen modeled or what he was told to do by an adult.
2 comments:
In PR we lived across from a shopping center. There was a shoeshine boy that we be-friended. He lived in a slum area about a mile away.
When we would go to the dentist, there was what seemed to me to be a very old woman who would always have the front of her dress open and she would nurse a child and beg. That image always was in my mind. I thought only poor beggars nursed their children so I never nursed any of mine.
I don't know how much time out of the orphanage Anya has experienced, but her memories will be interesting as she grows. They will play a HUGE role in who she becomes. The smells especially. I can walk into a Hispanic store and I am right back in PR.
I am enjoying what you are sharing. My daughter in law spent a Summer in Russia several years ago.
Yep.... so sad.
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