I've pretty much always been of the philosophy that it's better to take the time to buy something for a person that is begging, and thus invest some of yourself in them too, than to just hand them some money and leave. I still think that investing some of yourself is important, but being as efficiency minded as I inevitably am, I realized that sometimes it is more efficient to help someone by giving them money than trying to buy something for them. In Kolkata, many merchants don't have set prices for things. As a white foreigner it is nearly impossible for me to get the same prices from these merchants that a native would.
Example A: A few weeks ago two of the women on the team bought some rice and dal (both Indian staples) for some mothers that live on the street. It came up sometime later that they had paid 50 rupees for the rice. The merchant had started with a price of 100 rupees, so they felt like they'd done an alright job of getting him to come down. One of our leaders told us that the going rate for that much rice was actually around 20 rupees. If they had just given the 50 rupees to the family, the family would have been able to buy over twice as much rice.
Example B: Monday afternoon I was buying something for several women that live on the streets. The merchant knew exactly what was going on, and knew that I had obviously already decided that I was going to buy. To walk away, I would have to tell the women "no," which he probably realized I wasn't all that likely to do. He claimed that his price was fixed, which is very unlikely for a street merchant that doesn't have prices posted. I argued with him, but he wouldn't budge. I finally decided that the price was still dirt cheap by standards for an American, and didn't want to waste any more time. I just paid him and left, feeling frustrated, but at least glad that I was able to provide some practical help. It was this experience that actually got me thinking about issues of prices for natives vs the "white tax" when trying to help out the people on the streets.
Clearly there are about a billion more factors that go into giving, but each one seems to offer new insights into how/when to give. It wasn't a simple problem to begin with, and it hasn't been getting any simpler. Still, I'm glad for the new insights and I'm sure that God has a lot more to teach me about it.
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2 comments:
This actually was the second one. I could have gone to a third one, but I was lazy and it wasn't that much money (by American standards) anyway. My bigger point was just that no matter how many times I jump around, I'm unlikely to get as good of a price as they could get if I just gave them money.
That's a good point, but I would still hesitate because of the scams. If you are sure the people you are giving to are just using the resources for themselves, then I see it as fine to give them money straight-up, and I often did while I was there. But if you are dealing with kids or families that are working for someone, then the money is helping some random guy taking advantage of them more than it's helping them. In that case, it would be better to get the food, even if it's somewhat more expensive. Just try to use your best discernment in every case.
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