Tag Archives: begging

In September of 2008, I was asked to accompany The Home Foundation to Moldova and Turkey to document their trip to the orphanages of Moldova and to the human trafficking hub of Istanbul. While walking through the streets of Turkey, we came across this child sitting alone in a very busy street begging for money. She couldn’t have been more than 4 years old. I’m regularly haunted by the pitiful sound of her begging cries.

This trip impacted my life in many ways and each time I see this photo it just serves as a reminder of that trip. The people walking by ignoring her, a painful reminder that we do the same thing to homeless people here. We walk by, avoiding eye contact because we don’t want to face the reality that these people are in need… hungry, homeless, cold, in need of our help. We don’t want to help because it is an inconvenience or will take away from our lunch money or our ability to buy another luxury. Shame on us. Shame on me and shame on you for ignoring genuine needs of hurting people.

*stepping off my soapbox* :P~ Just wanted to share that and admit my guilt in ignoring poverty so many times… not every time, but many times. I wish it were inverted and I could say that I rarely ignore it instead of rarely responding to it.