Have you ever notice that...

[jensen]

i saw beggers/beggars in Laos, especially in Vientiane... As someone said here, people try to make them hide from the tourists, but they really exists. They are not all lazy people as it has been mentioned here. I've worked with a Lao association working in integration of street kids into the society. These kids goes everywhere to beg for some kips here and there. It's sad to see that, but poverty does exist in Laos. Sure that compared to the western standard, Laos is a very poor and one of the less advanced country in the world....

If you are in Vientiane Capital, LP, Paksé or other cities, you won't think that people are poor, cos they have electricity, VIGO cars or other asian cars or pick-ups, they have TV, music, hi speed internet cafés, etc etc...They sure live well, but if u go, hmm no need to go far in the country, go in one or two districts of Vientiane Province : Sikhottabong for example, you will see in a lot of villages that the poverty is REAL. No electricity, no ciment buildings or houses, no shop, no factories, only houses made of bamboos or other natural stuff... Kids have to walk a lot of kilometers to go to school everyday, schools lack teachers, tables, chairs, blackboard, school material, and the only economic activity there is to plant vegetables. A lot of kids didn't go to school cos the costs are too expensive for people there who only get money from the vegetables they can sell. If the season isn't good, that means not enough vegs to sell, but only to eat, so no money.

Well, that's just an example i'm giving. Sure that a lot of people there live happily (if they live well), but there are still some ppl who suffer from poverty. If u go tell them that they are not that poor, they would stare you and laugh, and would exchange with ur situation at anytime.

 

[PimpStress]

Whether we see it or not, poverty exists in every country. I haven't been to Laos in over 20 years and I know it's changed a lot since then. My mom was just there last month and she said there's cell phone stands everywhere and even people living on farms have cell phones...haha. I laughed at the thought of farmers talking on cell phones. People have certainly found ways to earn a living. Though some continue to advance in their riches, others struggle for survival. That's the way life's always been and will continue to be. We get so absorbed in our daily lives that sometimes we don't think or strive to do anything about it. I know I've been guilty at times but changing the world takes one small step a day. I hope that someday in the near future, I'll be able to take a bigger leap and make a larger impact. Afterall, once we leave this world we can't take any of our riches with us. So I hope to leave knowing that the world is a better place to live in for all who still remains.

 

[jensen]

Hi 5 Daring, I totally agree with your wise words !!!!!!

 

[noungning]

interesting perspectives.

i suppose there are many things 1 see more than another and it's good to read of more experiences.

 

[AmmatureKikyo]

Well, in my point of view, in Laos or Thailand when u r poor, I mean u're really poor...like u have nothing to eat or sleep on, and when u're rich, ur really rich and stingy(some people)...Hack, when I went to Laos, and visited the Morning market, I even saw a skinny, boney cat that was scrambling around looking for food in the trash and on the street..Here in the U.S, the pets that r homeless tends to find food in the trash or just on the street, and they r not boney..Over there, they said that if u have legs and arms, and not cripple, u r able to make a living..Over here, most to the beggers look pretty fine to make and some r not crippled...Hack, I remember seeing some beggers wearing decent clothes...And even though u r homeless u still have a place to sleep in or at...like I would see homeless people sleepin out in the corner with atleast some cloth or blankets.. some even got the thermal sleeping bag...lol...some county even have a shelter for homeless people and every thanksgivings or holidays they would serve free meals to the homeless..

Laos is still consider a poor economy, but it's changing..not rapidly, but slowly..

 

[noungning]

^ well yes of course a homeless in the states can be richer than someone with a home!

they are financially supported from the government. unlike laos or thailand, do you think something like that is in existence? NEVER!! why would they help people out when they can pocket to buy the nice houses/cars/pay for their sideline events...? corruption will never end and it'd probably take ages until both thailand and laos can compare to a much more civilized country as the usa, which isn't doing so well itself at the moment... -_-

 

[donna]

we have a lot of homeless and starving ppl here in the states cuz the govt always trying to butt their noses into other ppls business. they need to make sure that we are okay before they try to go and help out/fight other ppls wars. i work in the social service field and i see a lot of hungry ppl who come to me to get food. the govt expects them to be able to survive on just $500 a month but yet they keep raising the taxes and poverty level. right now its at $1575 gross per month. man i'm not that far from being classified as someone living in poverty! i might be off topic but i just wanted to share a little insight.

i've never been to Laos so i can't say if they are beggars or not. i know that there are a lot in USA

 

[ChenrukNote]

I don't think its entirely the government's responsibility to care for all the homeless people in our country because its almost impossible to. They have the ability to work but because of stuff like TANF(welfare), many people choose to abuse it while others truly need it. I mean we give foreign aid to other countries because well our foreign policy is selfish but then again every foreign policy is selfish. The U.S. aids the countries that seem most valuable to us whether it be in economic or political terms. I feel that the U.S. as the most powerful country currently, feels obligated to foreign affairs. We can't hold everyone's hand and combat poverty. Poverty is too complicated of an issue because it involves politics, economics, and even morality of the poor people. I honestly don't believe that poverty can be completely taken care as long as the world exists. Life is not fair, there are poor people and rich people. I don't know about you guys but I sure would want to keep every penny that I make every month instead of letting it be taxed to fund the people who can work and choose not to(damn I sound like a Republican and I'm not).

People in other countries have it worse than the ones in America. Like SunRise said, people do donate through can food drives, operation child, or make a wish foundation, salvation army to help the needy. Think about all the people in Africa, they don't even have a stabilized government to aid them and the continent is so torn apart. Poverty's horrible, it victimizes aimlessly and those who are born into it are very unfortunate but honestly I can't even think of a logical reason as to who is responsible for combating it. Until that is figured out, we will continue to see bums on the street, horrifying pictures of kids abroad, and needy people in which the only wrong they committed was being born poor.

 

[champthong]

"I feel that the U.S. as the most powerful country currently, feels obligated to foreign affairs."

The United States is widely regarded as the world's sole military superpower follows by China (about 2.8 million person army), however the economic superpower goes to JAPAN. The military superpower might change in the next decades since Chinese Military Officials are investing in weapons technology.

They are NOT obligated, but they want to stick their nose into people business.

Now when people say US is the most powerful country, you can say what do you mean by that (military or economic)?

 

[Liberty]

Technically Laos IS one of the poorest countries in the world, it's NOT the poorest but one of.
Not just due to the way it's managed but the lack of resources. Not having beggars in a country and be for a variety of reasons, such as cultural and religious reasons.

The US is one of the richest countries in the world but it's NOT the richest, not anymore anyway. The gap between the poor and the rich is widening, the middle class is shrinking which means the Rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We don't have universal medical care, there are all sorts of drug problems going on which contributes to why there are homeless people in the streets. People who lose their jobs and have no savings can go from being middle class to homeless in a blink of an eye. It also depends where you live too. You'll find it more in the city because despite what people say, jobs aren't that easy to come by.
If you're homeless no one's going to want to hire you when you don't even look like you can work. People get hired partially on how well groom they are, if you look professional enough for them or not.
A homeless person, wearing tattered clothing and barely enough to eat each day doesn't have the means to worry about what they can wear for a job interview. There are homeless shelters but only provide so much help and a place to sleep for the night. The truth is, there's more homeless people than there is room in a shelter.
What the government needs to do is work on a way to help the homeless ease back into society. Start a program that will help them find work, a stable home and let them take it from there. If they have drug problems they need to deal with that first before even thinking about working.
Strangely enough, I'm betting a lot of the homeless came from middle class homes. The rich have the money to cover medical expenses and what not. The poor (if you're considered poor enough by government standards) get government help. What about the middle class?
If you only work to solve the immediate problem the problem will continue. But if you look ahead and try to solve the entire problem you won't have to worry about it again.
It's like that saying goes, if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for one day but if you teach him to fish he'll eat forever (or something along that line).
Don't even get me started on homeless who were teen runaways.

Like I said, it depends on where you are. I grew up in a small coastal town and never once saw a homeless person, not even in the nearest city. Then when I moved to Austin I started seeing some here and there. But when I moved to Houston, I saw a lot of homeless people in just about every corner of the city.

By the way, not all of Africa is poor. There are a lot of students from all over there that attend school with me and they didn't come from rich families but their parents found a way for them to attend college in the states. A lot of them have even said that not all parts of Africa is as bad as what people think.

 

[Liberty]

The United States is widely regarded as the world's sole military superpower follows by China (about 2.8 million person army), however the economic superpower goes to JAPAN. The military superpower might change in the next decades since Chinese Military Officials are investing in weapons technology.

Now when people say US is the most powerful country, you can say what do you mean by that (military or economic)?

Probably because we have both, maybe not number 1 in either categories but we're at the top in both areas.

 

[lady0fdarkness]

The last time I was in Laos was back in 1980, when I was 1 years old, strapped to my older sister's back escaping communists to a refugee camp in Thailand. So I'm clueless as to how the Mother Land is like, but according to my Mother's stories, I do have an idea.

I guess there are barely any beggers in Laos is because the people there work as a community, where everyone helps eachother out. And the people use the earth and land as their resource to everyday living. Instead of going out to buy frozen foods from Wal-mart, the people in Laos grow their own food. They can just go outside and pick fresh Watercrest or Lemon Grass or go and catch a big fish to make dinner for the family and the neighbors. Or if you live in a more modern Laos, you can go and buy those fresh items at the farmer's market and come home and feed your family and your neighbors.

I grew up in Hawaii, and since Hawaii's population consist of 90% Asian, I had the previlage of living amongst fellow Laotians. I lived in a neighborhood where every house on the block were Laotian families. And I know my Mother's stories are true, because we all knew eachother in that neighborhood. If Aunty Tui was making Larb Pbha that night, the whole neighbor knew about it, cause she invited everyone for dinner. If Aunty Bounmy made Pho for lunch, I was there eating it too, eventhough I'm not even her niece. So that leads me to believe that this is the reason why there are barely any beggers in Laos, it's because Laotians come together as a community and help eachother out.

And I also realize that we are not commercialized, which is a good thing. I love Laos the way it is..... Pre-Communism and Post-Communism, it is still beautiful no matter what.

 

[lady0fdarkness]

And I feel like if some Laotians live without electricity and rather live primitively, it doesn't mean that they are poor. They are just living a more simple life.

 

[dfemc]

So that leads me to believe that this is the reason why there are barely any beggers in Laos, it's because Laotians come together as a community and help eachother out.

And I also realize that we are not commercialized, which is a good thing. I love Laos the way it is..... Pre-Communism and Post-Communism, it is still beautiful no matter what.

exaaactly! wooord! that's the civil society structure i'm speaking of. u hit the hammer right on the nail. we were already a communal culture way before communism came into existence. and the communism that exists to this day was more of a nationalistic (anti-western) political movement, more than anything.

 

[PhoneO_5]

haha. i read most of the discussions, not thoroughly, but wow...Champ is right on how the discussion progressed to other topics.

Anyways, I went to Laos, and I saw some beggars. They just hold their hands out and really go up close to you. It kills me to see that. In one city, I gave them a little bit of money and they went on their way. In my dad's banh, there's this one kid who wanted money, I guess he saw it in my back jean pocket, but this lady was so rude and said that he was lying and that he's just interupting her business. But, she was nice enough to give him some fruit and said that if he's really hungry, give him food. I later saw him at a little road side restaraunt. So, I don't know if the lady at the market was correct or not about him, but he sure was eating that fruit that he got, and left us alone. In Vientiene, we saw several beggars at Tat Luang. My dad decided to give some money to this one beggar. She was disabled and her eyes were very horrid looking. At first I was shocked to see that because I've never seen beggars in America look like that, but after she got the money, she left us alone.

I wished life was simple and pleasant and everybody can have money, etc. But, it's so difficult to fix homelessness in a blink of an eye.

 

[mainhiathao]

there's beggers everywhere...