It is very sad to see these children... even more sad to hear from those who say "NEVER give... it is all fake." While some may be fake beggars, I think it is a minority, and isn't it better to give, knowing that most of what you give will help someone desperately poor?
I have a brief story on this - I have flown to Guatemala commercially for maybe 8 years now. We fly down in the afternoon, spend one night in a hotel, and fly home the next morning, bright and early.
The area outside the airport SWARMS with kids we call "The Shoe Shine Boys" because they all have shoe shine kits and hustle us for shines. I noticed that most were barefoot, and thought "I'll bring them some shoes." My co-workers said all the standard things... "They'll sell the shoes to buy drugs" or "They'll be forced to give the shoes to their bosses."
I made a petition to my church. Next week, someone had bought about 20 pairs of brand new sneakers and placed them in the donation box. I brought them down, passed them out (it was quite a feeding frenzy) and made a bet with my friends - "You watch. They will be wearing the shoes next time we come down." Sure enough, just about every boy had brand new shoes on, and some of them wore theirs for a couple of years before they wore out or were outgrown.
My point - it starts at the street level. Above that, there MUST be facilities (Government is fine, private charities better) to provide nourishing food, shelter, and schooling for orphans. Those that are not orphan, the PARENTS need to be found and shamed/enforced to do their job. If the parents cannot or will not, the children should be declared orphan and put up for adoption.
No child under the age of 18 should be roaming the streets.
