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Description
Digging through the crates, I found this one I took spring 2005 in Madrid. Exiting the supermarket after having bought bottled water, this elderly, clearly hungry and probably homeless man approaches me asking for any spare change, as homeless people often do. Normally I'm not much of a humanitarian (I give all my charity money to animal & wildlife) and when it comes to bums in Amsterdam, they are almost always homeless by choice. Any able-bodied resident need only make his/her way to the proper government building and apply for welfare, which pays even more than minimum wage jobs, certainly enough for low-cost subsidised housing and the bare necessities. Amsterdam bums are however often also addicts and/or alcoholics, and are not necessarily hungry. This I discovered more than a few times; when a bum would ask me for change, I offered him a sandwich instead, upon which he scowled angrily and swore at me. Yeah, no good deed goes unpunished.

Of course this isn't the case in many other parts of the world. The homeless I encountered in Manila truly are desperate, and always intently grateful upon receiving a food donation. It's heartbreaking to see a 4-year old Filipino girl on bare feet, knocking on your car window at 4am asking you to help them out. Sigh.

This old man was equally grateful when I offered him some bread and a few Breakers . He nodded and thanked me repeatedly, then quickly sat down and began to feed himself.

The photo I ended up taking is not technically outstanding, but I hope that the message does get across.

Description
Digging through the crates, I found this one I took spring 2005 in Madrid. Exiting the supermarket after having bought bottled water, this elderly, clearly hungry and probably homeless man approaches me asking for any spare change, as homeless people often do. Normally I'm not much of a humanitarian (I give all my charity money to animal & wildlife) and when it comes to bums in Amsterdam, they are almost always homeless by choice. Any able-bodied resident need only make his/her way to the proper government building and apply for welfare, which pays even more than minimum wage jobs, certainly enough for low-cost subsidised housing and the bare necessities. Amsterdam bums are however often also addicts and/or alcoholics, and are not necessarily hungry. This I discovered more than a few times; when a bum would ask me for change, I offered him a sandwich instead, upon which he scowled angrily and swore at me. Yeah, no good deed goes unpunished.

Of course this isn't the case in many other parts of the world. The homeless I encountered in Manila truly are desperate, and always intently grateful upon receiving a food donation. It's heartbreaking to see a 4-year old Filipino girl on bare feet, knocking on your car window at 4am asking you to help them out. Sigh.

This old man was equally grateful when I offered him some bread and a few Breakers . He nodded and thanked me repeatedly, then quickly sat down and began to feed himself.

The photo I ended up taking is not technically outstanding, but I hope that the message does get across.