I'm a total sap. My husband's not gonna be happy.
Written by Bessie on Monday, December 28, 2009 in Philippines
Feelin' sad
Walking home from the beach this afternoon, I was thinking "uh oh, Kyle's not gonna like this." I held in my hand a box with 10 seashells that I bought from kids on the beach.Feelin' sad
The story goes like this. I was sitting on the beach watching boats pass by when 7 local kids sat down in front of me with their baskets of shells. In our 3 days on Malapascua, we'd probably passed these kids 5 times and told them "no thanks". But every other time Kyle was with me, and they didn't surround me with their cute smiles. This time, they sat down with me talking about learning English and playing with my light hair and skin. Then they lanuched into this really cute shell selling presentation and I forgot the word "no" existed.
I probably spent like 20 minutes picking out 9 shells for my kindergartners in Korea - I had to buy one shell from each of the 7 sellers, you know, to be fair and all. It reminded me of being a kid selling lemonade and girl scout cookies to my neighbors. Although it's unlikely these kids sell shells because they want to, more likely it's because their parents make them work. That was the problem with the whole scenario - these young kids are working, everday, and sadly because I bought shells from them, their parents will keep making them sell shells. Especially because I gave them too much money. Hopefully, selling shells doesn't lead to the kids getting pulled out of school, as happens in some places.
Now I enter the confessional. "Forgive me Father for I've sinned" and all that. I gave this group of kids $2 each, so $14 total. In my out-of-practice traveller's brain, I rationalized that "ohh, they're nice kids" and I gave them a little more so each got a bill and they could split it easier and be fair. (I know, I'm a total sucker.)
I forgot my rule of not giving money to kids. In my everyday life $14 isn't such a big deal, but thinking that way made me a big sap and probably had the kids thinking "finally we got this lady away from her husband and we can ask her for a lot for these shells!"
But I should have been thinking a liter of water or a Coke here is less than $.50. Vegetables or bread cost less than that. $4 is a full meal of chicken curry and a banana shake at a tourist restaurant. $2 is pretty much of a lot of money for a shell. Unfortunately when I realized all that, I was already walking back to find Kyle. When I told him the story, he went pretty quickly from chilled-out hammock mode to disbelieving shock. The abreviated conversation goes like this:
Kyle: What are those?
Bessie: *sheepishly smiling* Hello husband darling, I bought some shells from these nice kids on the beach. I tought them some English.
Kyle: How could you spend so much money for something you can pick up in the sand?
Bessie: But these are really pretty shells I haven't seen anywhere. They surrounded me. I coudn't just buy one, so I got 9 for my students. (thinking: hmmm this isn't going well, maybe I should have brought him a present too.)
Kyle: Now those kids are gonna pressure every tourist they see until they give them money. And their parents will probably pull them out of school to sell more!
Bessie: Yeah, I should't have done it. At least I can write a good blog post about it.
The next day I ran into the kids again, and I took a picture of them like we'd agreed to the day before so I could show my students. As we talked they said they used some of the money to buy a few sodas, and I'm assuming they gave the rest to their parents. Then they tried to tell me I shorted them money, which I'm sure is part of their normal selling process. I was firm, but i knew what they were hoping for. I wasn't the first, and I'm sure I won't be the last. Hopefully they keep studying, and it's a road to a less agressive tourist trade.
They're cute though, huh? The boys are doing gansta' poses.
Comments on "I'm a total sap. My husband's not gonna be happy."
The world loves a woman who thinks for herself. The shells were probably worth the price and will make beautiful gifts. Where else could you find nine gifts for $14.00? I think you got a bargain and you will delight your students! Warm regards.........
It was hard not to get suckered in by them. I'm normally quite tough with things like that, but the kids in Malapascua were so friendly and so nice it was reeeeeeeeally hard to say no. Especially after the boys had just done a load of backflips for us on the beach, so I figured they'd earnt it. Oh, and we ended up buying them sodas as well.
Thanks for relating! I agree, they were really likable kids!
I guess you have never seen the play "Oliver". These cute street urchins could all easily claim a part in the production. "Shortie" with the pink bag would be a shoe-in for Artful Dodger! Eagerly awaiting the photo of the "must have" shells.
by Linda at January 03, 2010 02:41 PM