by Kyle Ellison
Gadling.com
Jan 12th 2012
Lunch on Guilty Beach was a tough meal to swallow.
If you look on a map of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, you'll find beaches such as Victory Beach and Independence Beach, but you'll find no such place as Guilty Beach. Regardless of what a map might say, unofficially, every beach in Cambodia is Guilty Beach.
Guilty Beach is not just a Cambodian phenomenon, but rather a global destination that can be found along coastlines the world over. It's in Los Cabos, Mexico, in the shadow of the famous Cabo arch. It's in Jaco, Costa Rica, backed up by sagging palm trees and world class surf. It's in Asilah, Morocco; it's in Mabul, Malaysia. Guilty Beach is every beach in the world where those unfortunate individuals living well below the poverty line--many of them children--work the beach in the hope of squeaking out much less than a living; most likely, they're just trying to make that night's dinner.
While beach merchants and scam artists can often be viewed as hawkers selling goods you would never want, Guilty Beach, Cambodia is thusly labeled because here it is different. Children don't prod you to buy some fake sunglasses--they simply ask for a bite of your food. Men don't sell knockoff jewelry for extra beer money. Rather, children sell bracelets while carrying their infant brother in their arms because their parents are too sick, or worse, dead.
Guilty Beach is thusly named because I no longer want that $2 plate of fried noodles, or that $1 can of beer. How can I accept that $2 plate of food when I just told an 11 year-old girl I didn't want her $2 bracelet? Then to eat it in front of her, as her eyes fail to flinch from the fried fare before me.
So why not buy the $2 bracelet? Why not donate my meal? Because the sad reality is knowing you cannot help them all; that there are no amount of bracelets that will heal this heart wrenching dilemma. Furthermore, the precedent set by rewarding begging can be far more disastrous than the apparent problems you're trying to prevent.
Finally, it's a somber truth knowing that these innocent faces, with bulging stomachs and bulging eyes, are merely working for someone above them, whether it's family or otherwise. The average tourist won't buy sliced mango from a fully grown man, but they'll open up their wallet for a child. And sadly, everyone knows it. These are merely conscripted child soldiers in a brutal reality of poverty and survival.
"They tell us to say that," the little girl confesses. She has just asked us to "open our hearts by opening our wallets." It's a heavy line that's been proven to work.
How do you deny an 11 year-old girl of $2 while she holds an infant and tries not to cry? How do you not look at all of them, 20 or 30 deep, wishing you could buy all of their bracelets so they can go play in the water like all 9 and 11 year-olds should?
Even if you buy them from two, three, or eight different children, eventually you have to tell one no, and is their pain dampened any by the fact you just helped the eight previous? The guilt is nonetheless the same. A line intrinsically must be drawn somewhere, but that line never gets any less painful, or justifiable. We gave the girl $1 for a smaller bracelet, and she left despondently, a sense of failure in her face. Nobody wins in this game.
Even more, who am I that you should even feel the need to beg to me? I don't deserve this phony pedestal you place me upon. I don't deserve this plate of food you lust after. I don't deserve to sit on this beach, in this comfortable chair, and lead an easier life than you.
Lunch on Guilty Beach was a tough meal to swallow.
If you look on a map of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, you'll find beaches such as Victory Beach and Independence Beach, but you'll find no such place as Guilty Beach. Regardless of what a map might say, unofficially, every beach in Cambodia is Guilty Beach.
Guilty Beach is not just a Cambodian phenomenon, but rather a global destination that can be found along coastlines the world over. It's in Los Cabos, Mexico, in the shadow of the famous Cabo arch. It's in Jaco, Costa Rica, backed up by sagging palm trees and world class surf. It's in Asilah, Morocco; it's in Mabul, Malaysia. Guilty Beach is every beach in the world where those unfortunate individuals living well below the poverty line--many of them children--work the beach in the hope of squeaking out much less than a living; most likely, they're just trying to make that night's dinner.
While beach merchants and scam artists can often be viewed as hawkers selling goods you would never want, Guilty Beach, Cambodia is thusly labeled because here it is different. Children don't prod you to buy some fake sunglasses--they simply ask for a bite of your food. Men don't sell knockoff jewelry for extra beer money. Rather, children sell bracelets while carrying their infant brother in their arms because their parents are too sick, or worse, dead.
Guilty Beach is thusly named because I no longer want that $2 plate of fried noodles, or that $1 can of beer. How can I accept that $2 plate of food when I just told an 11 year-old girl I didn't want her $2 bracelet? Then to eat it in front of her, as her eyes fail to flinch from the fried fare before me.
So why not buy the $2 bracelet? Why not donate my meal? Because the sad reality is knowing you cannot help them all; that there are no amount of bracelets that will heal this heart wrenching dilemma. Furthermore, the precedent set by rewarding begging can be far more disastrous than the apparent problems you're trying to prevent.
Finally, it's a somber truth knowing that these innocent faces, with bulging stomachs and bulging eyes, are merely working for someone above them, whether it's family or otherwise. The average tourist won't buy sliced mango from a fully grown man, but they'll open up their wallet for a child. And sadly, everyone knows it. These are merely conscripted child soldiers in a brutal reality of poverty and survival.
"They tell us to say that," the little girl confesses. She has just asked us to "open our hearts by opening our wallets." It's a heavy line that's been proven to work.
How do you deny an 11 year-old girl of $2 while she holds an infant and tries not to cry? How do you not look at all of them, 20 or 30 deep, wishing you could buy all of their bracelets so they can go play in the water like all 9 and 11 year-olds should?
Even if you buy them from two, three, or eight different children, eventually you have to tell one no, and is their pain dampened any by the fact you just helped the eight previous? The guilt is nonetheless the same. A line intrinsically must be drawn somewhere, but that line never gets any less painful, or justifiable. We gave the girl $1 for a smaller bracelet, and she left despondently, a sense of failure in her face. Nobody wins in this game.
Even more, who am I that you should even feel the need to beg to me? I don't deserve this phony pedestal you place me upon. I don't deserve this plate of food you lust after. I don't deserve to sit on this beach, in this comfortable chair, and lead an easier life than you.
Lunch on Guilty Beach was a tough meal to swallow.
7 comments:
Indeed it was a tough meal to swallow for the author of this article.Please talk more and preach more about your morality and your great conscience of not to encourage the habit of child begging or child selling stuffs.
An now is my turn.When you white folks came to the countries where all these Guilty Beaches were listed 200 years ago your folks were doing what? Not begging but plundering, killing the aborigines,enslave them take theirs natural resources or even their land. Your country became rich and your beach doesn't have this kind of children problems.Take vacation on the rich country beach pale. Are you poor can not take vacation in the rich country? Don't you dare to call my country beach Guilty. My country has problems and we try hard to solve them. Many generous white folks dedicated their works in poor country like Cambodia to make a difference. Your article is so poor and has bad test,you not even gave a slight idea of how to improve the situation.
Many generous white folks dedicated their works in poor country like Cambodia to make a difference. Your article is so poor and has bad test,you not even gave a slight idea of how to improve the situation.
Did you get it from 10:49 PM comment, Sir?.
Kyle Ellison,you should not come to Khmer beaches,they all are in poor state and offer you no comforts. Stick around on Thai beaches only,there you see gorges Thai girls and they sell you
pussies instead of $2 bracelet.
14 January 2012 3:07 AM, make your own comment,don't be so lazy just to cut and paste from 13 January 2012 10:49 PM!
Kyle Ellison is a Thai sympathizer. Notice, he/she didn't mention the Pattaya Beach, Thailand. A Guilty place where army of Thai whores marching along the beach to earn some greenback dollars from mainly the white foreigners/costomers. What's more honorable, a beggar or a whore?
Talking about Kyle Ellison, is he the guy who claimed to have an interview with Gen.Srey Deuk and said Srey Deuk did not know whether 4.6 sq km belong to Thai or Cambodia ? If he is the one and the same person,Kyle Ellison is a poor beggar or vagabond who is easily disturbed by Khmer kids selling stuffs.He try to save monies to get Thai drug and Thai pussy,I reserve the word Sir to address somebody else but not Kyle.
I think this writer try to portrayed the problem of beach-begging in a sympathetic tone, while at the same time disapproving of begging. His tone seem hostile to the beggars, but at the same time he expressed his guilt for eating in front of the poor beggars, while he could have given that money to them. I think the article is not too bad, but a little bit unsympathetic to the situation these beggars faced as the writer never experienced a life of destitution and begging in his life.
Interesting perspective on the article, and by no means did I ever mean for it to be taken this way. As the last commenter said, the article was meant to be sympathetic to child beggars and raise the severity of the situation and the need to do something. I hate the beaches in Thailand, they are overrun and commercialized and I despise sex tourism. I spend lots of time in Cambodia and I help run an NGO in Cambodia which provides scholarships for Khmer children to go to English school and University. I am trying to help Cambodia, not hurt it, because it is a beautiful country with beautiful people. The article is meant to illustrate that I feel guilty about a foreigner who has money, because really, I am no different than the street beggars because we are both just humans. I am sorry if the article was taken in the wrong context. Thank you for reading. Sincerely, Kyle Ellison
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