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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've traveled a lot but not to many third world countries. I have been reluctant because I feel as if bearing witness to the grinding poverty would ruin the experience for me. I couldn't sleep at night in India knowing that right outside my window there are people without the most basic means to survive. Yes, I know when I got to sleep here they are still there but somehow the thought of lookign people in the eye and not really being able to help them while touring around the country and treating them as a bit of the 'experience' feels uncomfortable for me. I mean we took a helicopter trip to a tiny island in Hawaii with fancy picnic lunches and I ended up spending the whole time on the island feeding our lunches to the skinny dogs we stumbled upon. I'm not good with proximal suffering. How do others manage this or am I just too empathic? [/quote]

What? This is the craziest post that I've read on here. Do you really believe that every single person that you meet in a third world (i.e., not US or Europe) is below poverty, living on the streets and begging for money? You do realize that there are lots of well educated, employed, business oriented folks in these "sh&thole countries", to quote our ex-president, that you're talking about, right? These countries have vibrant cities, art museums, architecture, financial districts, historical monuments, nature reserves, great restaurants and the whole shebang. It's not all Slumdog Millionaire. [/quote]

NP. Of course but a lot of the people you DO encounter are the ones begging because they go where tourists are. And lots of them are being exploited by their own people so you can’t “fix” or even slightly help people. You end up enriching the corrupt in the country rather than truly helping with your tourism dollars. Some people don’t consider that a pleasant experience. It is downright depressing to feel helpless dismay. Anyone thinking they are helping are fooling themselves. [/quote]

This is just untrue. It is not all beggars in Bogota, Buenos Aires, CDMX, Montevideo, BGK, etc. The broad brush of complete poverty that you’re painting over 100 countries with is obscene. You know where OP should avoid if she hates homelessness and poverty? LA, Austin, Miami, NYC, and downtown Washington DC. Homelessness is through the roof.[/quote]

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