Friday 25 December 2009

Baga Beach!




It has been a great week in Goa! Last Saturday Charlie and I visited Baga Beach and expected to spend most of the day Sunbathing. However, the activities of the day changed slightly when we were approach by some begging children, a small boy and his sister. The girl was playing a small Indian drum and the boy was dancing. It is always best not to give these children money as you don't know where it ends up so we bought them both an ice-cream which they seemed to enjoy much more than a few rupees. Looking around, I could see another boy who was begging and we invited him over to give him some food. We had just ordered lunch which we were eating on the beach so we were able to give him a selection on rice, curry and naan bread to eat. It was very difficult to get him to say anything and even one of the waiters who spoke Hindi to him didn't get a response. He was then joined by his sister who was a little more talkative. She also had some food and then we all had an ice-cream. It was amazing to start to see the transformation from begging desperate children to happy children. It only seemed right that as we were at the beach we should get them to go for a swim in the sea so Charlie and I took it in turns to take the kids into the sea whilst the other stayed to guard the bags and valuables. It only took a few splashes in the sea for the laughter to erupt and for words to start flowing. They were now looking and acting more like children and they had seemed to have forgotten what they came onto the beach for in the first place. They spent the next hour with us building a sandcastle, drawing and one British lady next to us asked them if they wanted their nails painted. Unfortunately these children have been brainwashed into begging and eventually the requests for money started up again. It was then that they had to leave and return back to their home. It was a shame to see them leave the same way they started the day but at least they had a few hours of being real children.

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