Some time ago I was in Chatuchak Market in Bangkok where, among many Thai beggars, I also saw a foreigner begging for money to buy a plane ticket to return home (to a Western European country)! On a yellow future board, he informed the passer-bys that he’s got no money to go home and that he accepted anything anyone can offer.
Being the first foreigner in Thailand that I’d seen begging, I approached him. I was curios to listen to his story. How on Earth was it possible for a white man to become a beggar in Southeast Asia?
It is common knowledge that foreigners working in Thailand receive very good salaries. An English teacher, with a BA and a teaching certificate, can earn between 30,000 and 60,000 baht / month (1 USD = 34 baht), depending on the location and the type of school. Schools in Bangkok pay more, while schools in the provinces, where the life is not that expensive, pay sometimes below 30,000 baht. The best paying schools are the international schools, where a qualified teacher (with a PGCE) can make even more than 100,000 baht/month. In comparison, Thai teachers have to make do with salaries between 4,000 and 10,000 baht / month!
The foreign beggar told me that he once worked as a teacher, but as he had got no degree or teaching certificate he was sacked when the Thai government started hunting for teachers with fake degrees, or schools that employ unqualified teachers. He worked part time for a while, but sometimes he could make only about 9,000 baht a month, which was definitely not enough for rent, food and transportation! Now he’s got no job at all, he’s already overstayed a few days in Thailand, and he’s go NO money to buy a return ticket home. What other choice does he have, except begging?
I gave him my general manager’s phone number, but as he had no mobile phone, he wrote the number on a piece of paper and gave me his e-mail address. I told him to call my boss and see if there’s any fill-in lessons she can give him, but he had no chances at all of getting a full-time job! I gave him some money and left. There was nothing more I could have done!
On the way home, I called my boss and told her about the begging ex-teacher and she said she would wait for his phone call. In the evening, while chatting with my boss on Yahoo messenger, I asked her if the guy called her. He didn’t. I wonder why? I just hope he can go back home safely!
The blog article triggered some comments, most of which were not as sympathetic with the foreign beggar as I was. The first reader that left a comment believed that “he [the beggar] just tried to cheat you and he succeeded,” but I replied that I didn’t think it was the case as “the loss of face involved must have worth more than the few hundred baht he made that day!”
The next comment tried to convince me that I might be wrong, the author mentioning “a good story in a newspaper a while back and it was about a foreigner doing just this. He was also begging and when the newspaper spoke to him he informed them he could make more than his monthly income he was getting when teaching and he only had to do it a few hours a day… I have seen this story happen in Pattaya especially.”
Another fellow blogger from Thailand wrote that “there have been stories about a ‘farang’ [foreigner] begging on ThaiVisa.com’s forum. Whilst I admire your generosity (I would probably have done the same) he might not be exactly what you think. If I were in that situation and offered a lifeline (your offer of possible work) I would have made every effort to follow up. I think the fact he hasn’t says a lot.”
To the final comment, “that beggar is fake. He can go to his country’s embassy to ask for help.” My reply was “I’m not sure about that, Anino. Not all embassies have this policy!”
Whether or not the begging ex-teacher was really broke and out of work, I will probably never know, but at least I can be proud that I helped a fellow teacher in need.
A version of this article was also published with the title Begging ex-teacher in Thailand
in „Horizons – The Journal of David’s English Teaching World” (Issue 4, June 2008)
