Charity?

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Last night I met a man sitting on a lawn chair in front of a heavily tourist frequented resaurant. Like other people I have met here he was very interested in the fact that I am learning vietnamese. However he also spoke fairly good english himself. We talked for a while in a mix of vietnamese-english and learned quite a lot about eachother. He was originally from Hue in central vietnam and had come come to Saigon around 15 years ago, but somehow or another he fell upon desperate times. He had no family to turn to anymore, besides his aging mother in Hue.

Since his working permit had expired and because he did not possess a Vietnamese ID card, he was was now homeless and would be arrested if he tried to work anywhere in Saigon. He told me that since he had been homeless at the place where I met him for such a long time he had made friends with a young man who worked as a waiter at the restaurant where I met him. His waiter friend gained permission to let him stay in front of the restaurant and gave him the lawn chair to sleep on. However, he could not afford the price of buying him a working permit on a waiters salary. I was touched by his story, and especially his strong desire to work, and I asked him why the many rich tourists he met, and spoke english to, had never helped him. He told me that they would often be kind enough to buy him food, but they would say it was too much money to buy him a new working permit and that they only had enough for themselves. It cost 1.5 million vnd to buy a three year permit for Saigon.

Hearing this made me sick. I knew that many tourists would blow that much money in a single night! It was a bad situation, yet I understood that I must help this man. 1.5 million dong is around 75 USD. That is a lot for me, considering I will probably spend less than that for my next week in saigon. Still it was worth it, to help another human being turn his life around. Not being a stanger to scams in SE asia, I quickly checked his story with other people who lived on the same street, and they told me it was true. So that very night, I visited a bank and his waiter friend helped us get together all of the necessary papers he had to sign. With this permit he would be given a job at the very restaurant he had lived in front of as a vagrant. Naturally, he was extremly grateful, but I simply told him that it was because I am buddhist, which is mostly true.

I am telling this story because I think it is important for people to know that helping somebody here in asia does not necessarily mean falling prey to a scam, or spending a small fortune. Please remember this!

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Comments

[ldinh]

Wonderful
I am really touched after reading your blog. That is the most beautiful thing I have ever read in this travel blog so far. Regardless of scam in the street, there are people who really need help but often turned away. It was a great ideas that you did some investigation before helping the man. I hope there are more people like you out there. Best wish on your trip!!!

[Zero The Wanderer]

thank you
I sincerely hope there are many others who feel the same way!

[Zero The Wanderer]

UPDATE
Update: He now has a job parking moterbikes for a restaurant across the street and also room and board there! He is now making around 1 million vnd a month, and promises that he will pay me back in time. I told him not to worry about it, but he is insisting so we shall see. The first thing he says that he will buy will be a mobile phone to call his mother in Hue! I am extremely happy for him.