One of the toughest things to deal with here is encounters with beggars -- children and adults alike. Women hold babies that are not their own, children ask for food or money, men with severe physical disabilities sit by the side of their road.
Sometimes kids in the neighbourhood or villages playfully demand, "Muzungu -- give me money!" (or water, or your watch) and it's easy to laugh and say, "I don't think so!" But many others are serious, and it is not a joke.
What should one do? Everything in you feels the need to give something, whether it be food or money. This article sheds light on how giving in to that impulse to hand over something, anything -- can actually be harmful. Generous tourists can unknowingly fuel a vicious criminal system of child trafficking. If you are ever going to travel to the third world (or even parts of the first world!) you should read this!
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/09/giving_money_to_child_beggars_don_t_do_it.html
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