Bali has its share of poor people and some of the poorest show up where the richest live. Today while sipping a juice at the Kuta Galeria, I noticed a young girl carrying a small basket of fruit on her head. She had a young friend with her and with the minimum of effort gestured up to her basket. Without any English language skills, these beggars and their parents rely on body language to read a stranger and get their message across. I don’t usually give beggars money it only encourages them to hang out and make a nuisance of themselves. Its a rather pathetic sight to see a mother dressed in rags, who originates from Kintamani in the highlands, sitting outside an ATM machine in Seminyak. Today I snapped a photo of this kid and showed it to her. The steely glare disappeared for a moment and she laughed. Maybe it was the heat, but I pulled out 1,000rp and handed it over.
Later that afternoon, while lining up at Circle K in Kuta, I saw a female beggar aged around 25 emptying her pockets of change. The counter staff were pleased to get it, as uang kacil (small money) is in short supply. Stacking up her coins and making a piles of the 1,000’s, they counted out 35,000rp. Most people don’t like beggars, but it must be a rotten way to make a living. Hope things get better for them.
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I have travelled to Bali each year for the past 25 years staying 6 months at a time and I must say I have never seen so many beggars in Bali as I have on my last visit.
Yes it must be a hell of a way to make a living but I know for a fact that they make more money daily than peoeple who work.
So many beggars on the streets of Bali is not a good thing and I know tourist do not like to see it.
There are many old women on the streets holding babies and I know they “rent” these babies for the purpose of begging, this women are past child bearing age and it plain to see this babies are NOT theirs. I hear the Police are trying to stop the beggars on the street.