Unpacked: S2, E27: Should I Give Money to Panhandlers While Traveling?
In her inaugural advice column, Dr. Anu Taranath answered a reader’s question about what to do, as a traveler, when faced with panhandling. In this episode of Unpacked, Dr. Anu expands on her answer and shares how to navigate the situation with dignity and grace—for all involved.
Read the transcript here: https://rebrand.ly/y62dr2g
Discover more episodes of the Unpacked by AFAR podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
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Read the transcript here: https://rebrand.ly/y62dr2g
Discover more episodes of the Unpacked by AFAR podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
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CONNECT WITH AFAR
Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com
Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters
Follow AFAR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia
Follow AFAR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/afarmedia
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TravelTranscript
00:00 I'm Aisling Green, and this is Unpacked, the podcast that unpacks one tricky topic
00:08 in travel each week. And today, we are exploring a question that was raised in our Digital
00:14 Ethics column, also called Unpacked. Dr. Anu Taranath is our new columnist. She's a speaker,
00:21 facilitator, consultant, and educator who specializes in issues of racial equity and
00:26 social change. Dr. Anu is also the author of the book Beyond Guild Trips, Mindful Travel
00:33 in an Unequal World, which was actually selected by Over Magazine as one of the best 26 travel
00:38 books. It is a fantastic read, and what's cool about it is that it touches on many of
00:43 the issues that were raised by the very first question Dr. Anu answered in her Unpacked
00:47 column. Here's that question. Dear Unpacked, my husband and I traveled from Connecticut
00:53 to Colombia in April, and we had a wonderful time. While we were walking around Cartagena,
01:00 taking pictures of the city's famous doors, we were approached by a young mother and her
01:04 baby. She pointed at the baby and then her stomach, as if to say they were hungry, and
01:09 held out her palm. My heart broke. I remember being a young mother myself once, and I immediately
01:16 gave her all the pesos I had in my purse. My husband didn't say anything at the time,
01:20 but afterwards he told me that I helped fuel a bad industry. Did I do the right thing?
01:26 Signed, "Take my coins." We'll link to the column and Anu's response in our show
01:32 notes. But Anu sat down with us to unpack her answer. Let's hear what she had to say.
01:37 Anu, welcome back to Unpacked. It's so nice to see you again.
01:40 Dr. Anu Arora Thank you.
01:41 Dr. Beth Anu Arora Today we are going to be talking about your
01:44 recent column, the subject of your recent column, Panhandling. It's a big question.
01:49 I was curious to know your first, your initial reaction.
01:52 Dr. Beth Anu Arora I had to sit with it for a moment because
01:57 I think for many of us travelers, this is a very familiar question. I'm sure it resonated
02:02 with many afar readers, and it has resonated with my traveling life for as far as I can
02:08 remember. And it's a question that's heartbreaking. We see ourselves in others. It's also a heartbreaking
02:16 question because it forces us to collide with some of these larger concepts of inequity
02:23 in the world. What does it mean to live in an unequal world? It's not okay, but how do
02:28 we handle this? How do we hold it? How do we navigate it?
02:31 Dr. Beth Anu Arora It's kind of like we're going from the macro
02:34 to the micro, right? Like macro issues of inequality in this one moment. And I was curious
02:41 to know why you think this particular situation provokes such discomfort. Like some people
02:47 want to ignore the person and walk away, others want to give them everything they have. Like
02:51 what do you think is going on internally when we are faced with this?
02:56 Dr. Beth Anu Arora Faced with this, we often short circuit.
02:59 It's one thing to understand on a macro level that the world is unequal. But when that inequity
03:08 looks you in the eyes and points to her belly and points to her child, it puts you and I
03:17 and the many others who have navigated this moment, it puts us in a very different position.
03:23 It's much more visceral. You can't quite shut it off. It's right there in front of you.
03:29 And the thing is, is that the inequities of the world are literally right there in front
03:35 of us all the time, even if it might not be in the poignant, dramatic moment of the young
03:41 mother pointing to her belly. And yet in order to live in an unequal world, we can't actually
03:49 be thinking of the inequities all the time. There's only so much that the human brain
03:54 can take. And there's only so much that the human heart can take, right? The unequal world
04:00 makes us have to selectively pay attention to what's in front of us, right? And that's
04:07 disturbing, of course. And yet that's kind of how we are. We operate from having the
04:16 veil over our eyes to suddenly being able to peek through it and get a sense of other
04:24 people's realities.
04:26 - What makes me wonder, at home, wherever this traveler is from, would they have reacted
04:32 in the same way? Was it also because they were in a different country and you're noticing
04:37 more that she kind of even reacted this way?
04:41 - That's a really insightful observation. And I have noticed in my own travels and as
04:47 I work with groups of travelers, that we are often somehow more raw when we are away from
04:58 home and we are somehow more calloused and hardened when we are in our familiar. And
05:07 that's partly the glory of travel, right? To make us raw and open and fresh so we can
05:13 see new things and feel new things. What would it mean to soften that up a little bit at
05:18 home so it's not only when I am abroad that I can feel deeply, whether I give the woman
05:26 money or not, but that I can feel deeply that moment of connection, being on opposite sides
05:35 of equity and inequity. Those are uncomfortable truths and they make us uncomfortable. No
05:42 wonder we harden ourselves to them at home, no?
05:46 - Absolutely. And like you said, it's hard to sit with that day in and day out. And so
05:51 it may be easier to shut that part of your heart or brain off if you see it on a daily
05:56 basis. What do you think about her response, giving the money?
06:02 - I think it's a perfectly fine response, what she's done, giving the woman money and
06:08 emptying her pockets of pesos at that moment. I too have given money to people that have
06:15 asked me both at home and when I am traveling. I also sometimes do not give when I am at
06:22 home or when I am traveling. And I have over the years learned to be less harsh on myself
06:31 for finding the quote right answer or right response to an unfathomable situation that
06:39 doesn't really yield one particular right answer. I've also learned over the years to
06:49 stay with the micro, stay with the woman who's in front of me or the person who's in front
06:54 of me. And also I've learned to kind of pan back and think, what are the larger systems
06:59 that are at play in this moment that gives rise to this incident that's happening here?
07:06 I think if people had other choices, they would make other choices, right?
07:10 - Yes, a hundred percent. I mean, no matter the backstory, I imagine most people would
07:15 not choose to be in the situation. It sounds like you're saying if someone feels motivated
07:21 in any situation to give some money, there's no real harm in that. I did wonder what you
07:26 think about giving alternatives to money. One of the things that I've always struggled
07:32 with is when you stop at a light and there's someone there who has a sign up and they're
07:35 asking for money or food or a ride. And it's hard to just be in your car in that moment
07:40 and feeling like I'm just going to drive away or I don't have anything to offer. But grandmother
07:44 for that reason would actually have like a box of snacks in her car. And anytime she
07:49 saw anyone, she would give a granola bar or I think she had tuna fish packets or something.
07:55 So what do you think about giving something like that as an alternative to giving money?
08:02 - Again, without knowing the backstory or the particular struggle of the person in front
08:09 of us, it's hard to ascertain what the right response is. Some people would really appreciate
08:15 the snacks that your grandmother so lovingly handed out. I love that idea. I've also met
08:21 people who are not interested in the granola bar that I or you or your grandmother would
08:25 offer them and instead are looking for some money so they can do what they need with it.
08:33 Again, because we don't know that husband's hesitation and the question about, you know,
08:40 is this a bad industry? It gives rise to a lot of suspicion in us of, hmm, what are you
08:45 using this money for? Maybe it's quote better or more ethical or more moral if I give you
08:54 the granola bar or the sandwich and not give you the three bucks or five bucks that you
09:00 might want instead. Who knows what you're going to use it for? We become in some moments,
09:07 perhaps a morality police wanting to encourage the person in front of us to make quote the
09:14 right choice. And so the sandwich or the granola bar feels like an easier contribution than
09:23 money that is somewhat mysterious. What will you use it for? Will you be responsible? You
09:30 know, nobody's checking with us. Are we using our money responsibly? Right? And many of
09:35 us are not. Right. But in those moments, we get to be a moral judge and jury when we are
09:43 distributing our compassion and our compassion has strings to it. Right. There are strings
09:49 attached to it. So. Again, I'm not quite sure of the right answer for any of this. Sometimes
09:57 we'll feel satisfied with what we've done. Other times we'll think, oh, that was so dumb
10:03 and that was useless and oh, I should have done something else. And that too will happen.
10:10 And we take a breath and we remind ourselves and one another, we did not make the world
10:16 that we live in. This inequity that I'm navigating and traveling through is much longer and much
10:24 more systemic than simply my choice at that intersection, whether I give the person the
10:30 granola bar, the sandwich or the $4.
10:33 Yeah. And that's such a good point about conditions being attached or falling into that place
10:40 of morality police. I think that if you are going to give money, it has to be without
10:45 strings. And then food can get into that kind of tricky place of like, where are you coming
10:51 from and what are you, what are you motivated by? I think that's a really good thing to
10:56 examine. What about contributing to larger organizations within the city? Like if there
11:02 was a, you know, an organization in Cartagena that's trying to help people kind of exit
11:06 poverty. Do you have thoughts about that?
11:08 Yeah, this really connects to some of my life values around this conversation. That to me,
11:17 if you have more than you need, which is many of us, I think it is our obligation and the
11:26 gift to share wherever I am in the world. If I have the wonderful experience of being
11:32 able to travel somewhere, part of my due diligence around my travel is to learn about the space
11:41 that I'm going to within reason, of course, but I try to learn about some of the broader
11:48 social issues and the larger social dynamics that are playing out in that region. I ask
11:54 my friends and colleagues of the region, who's doing the kind of work that you admire? What
12:00 kind of organizations and groups are grappling with some of the thorny and tricky questions
12:06 that are playing out in your community? I'm engaged in those kinds of discussions here
12:11 at home. Also, part of my traveling ethos is sharing what I have, which doesn't necessarily
12:20 mean giving to the woman in front of me who's asking or giving to the person at the street
12:28 corner who's asking. I know that my strategy can sometimes include that, but it can also
12:35 include some of these larger systemic organizations and groups that are working at the institutional
12:41 level to provide more opportunity and dignity for more of us. Again, there's no one right
12:47 answer for some of this. The more levels we are able to engage on that micro level, on
12:56 that macro level, on the individual heart level, on the intellectual level, that's when
13:04 I think that we're approaching, if not the right answer, at least a better answer for
13:13 these tricky questions.
13:14 Yeah. I mean, this reader, it sounds like she took this opportunity to kind of reflect
13:20 on the situation and maybe it's a jumping off point for her to look at some bigger issues
13:25 or do some research or kind of examine things in a different way. So, even the fact that
13:29 she's asking about, "Did I 'do the right thing'?" It sounds like in the moment, okay, that was
13:34 fine and now what?
13:37 Absolutely. Any of these moments can be a jumping off point, right? Our lives are filled
13:43 with glory and despair, close to home and far away from home, and especially the more
13:51 we start engaging with people's stories who are both like us and unlike us, we start realizing
13:57 the complexity of the world that we live in. And any of these moments that make us uncomfortable
14:03 or that make us pause or that make us question, "Did I do the right thing?" All of those are
14:09 beautiful jumping off points to take a moment and consider, "What are my values? Who do
14:16 I want to be in the world?"
14:18 (Music)
14:30 Bringing it back to kind of your own experience, this reader shared a very personal story and
14:36 I wanted to know what are some of your experiences that you've had around people asking for money
14:41 or other things as you've traveled?
14:44 I was in Dakar in Senegal, West Africa, and I was with two colleagues of mine. One is
14:52 a white woman, one is a black African-American woman, and I am a South Asian-American brown
15:02 woman. So we were white, brown, and black together, the three of us, walking in a market
15:10 in Dakar, and three men came up to us and started asking us for some money. We smiled
15:19 and shook our head and continued, and they followed us for some time. Two of them left,
15:26 but one of them kept on following us. And after the first few moments, started saying
15:31 very loudly, "Are you racist? Is that why you're not giving money? You are racist, aren't
15:39 you?" And it was a really complicated gut punch of a moment for the three of us. We
15:47 were, you know, we are three educators who work on issues of race and imagine ourselves
15:54 to be, quote, "on the good side" of these issues. And we turned around and my black
16:00 colleague said, "I am black like you. What are you talking about? No, it's not about
16:06 being racist. I just don't want to give money right now." And they got into a discussion
16:14 where the Senegalese man said over and over again, "You must be racist, which is why
16:20 you're not giving me some money." And later, my two colleagues and I, once the charge of
16:27 the moment kind of dissipated and we had some time to think through the incident, we thought
16:34 it was a brilliant strategy on the part of the Senegalese man to really have Americans
16:44 confront guilt, shame, history, and inequity with a phrase and a statement that most people
16:54 on any side of the Atlantic will pause. Right? And nobody that I know wants to be called
17:04 a racist. And if we are called a racist, we have to pause. And we have this volcano of
17:12 feelings that often come up, whether it's shame and guilt, whether it's defensiveness,
17:18 whether it's denial. And I wondered if I could meet this man again, I would love to
17:26 have a conversation with him to ask, "Where did you learn that this would be the right
17:32 strategy for you? How has it worked for you?" I'm so curious to learn more from him about
17:39 in his relations with foreigners in his community, how that works. What kinds of responses has
17:48 he seen? Do lots of foreigners give because they can't really fathom the fact that this
17:54 Senegalese man would think that they're racist and so suddenly they pull out their wallet?
18:01 Or do people feel so uncomfortable that they quickly sprint away and hope nobody has heard
18:08 what he said? So, you know, I've had a lot of moments like the reader's question where
18:13 an individual asks for money, points to their belly, points to a child. I've also had experiences
18:20 where people have come up and, you know, especially when I am in India, I'm sitting in an open
18:25 auto rickshaw. And, you know, there are folks that come around and beg and say very clearly,
18:32 "If you don't give me, we will curse you." And so really thinking about, "Hmm, what are
18:39 the stakes?" Suddenly the stakes have been raised here. And it's the same strategy of
18:44 that one Senegalese man who really raised the stakes by calling attention to race. In
18:51 that particular moment in the market in Dakar, my two colleagues and I, we did not give to
18:56 the man, even after he called us racist. And we continued on our way. But the moment has
19:03 sat with me for the last few years. And it's one that I keep coming back to when I'm really
19:07 grappling with the stories that we tell about who we are or who others are, the ways that
19:16 we might use race in sometimes helpful or not so helpful ways to get what we want. It's
19:24 a moment that felt very unsettling when it was taking place. And even narrating it to
19:31 you years later, it feels really unsettling.
19:34 I can just feel how uncomfortable that must have been for you three. It's interesting
19:39 that your colleague dialogued with him.
19:42 I loved the moment because the three of us as Americans were very differently positioned
19:47 as Americans, white woman, black woman, brown woman. His statement landed on the three of
19:53 us very differently. We all shared a sense of shock and discomfort. But because of our
20:00 own histories around race and racism, it allowed us to have a very deep dialogue later that
20:06 day about it.
20:08 It's a really powerful story. Thank you for sharing it. Is there anything else you'd
20:12 like to share with readers for the next time they might face the situation? Because we
20:15 will all be there again, right? Likely sooner rather than later.
20:20 The more strategies we have, the better we'll be able to navigate what's in front of us.
20:27 I think it's good for us to have a couple of granola bars in our car to pass out. It's
20:33 good for us to have some small change at home and when we're traveling for those moments
20:38 where we feel like, yes, I do want to give some actual money to the person in front of
20:43 me and for us to pull back and to think systemically about both the community that we're a part
20:52 of as well as the communities that we travel to and to align ourselves with others who
21:00 are working to create more dignity and opportunity for people in their lives.
21:07 So again, if there's anything that people leave with, there's no one right answer to
21:14 this. There are a range of responses that we can explore individually and together.
21:23 And the more honest we are about the discomfort that we feel in those moments, the better
21:30 able we will be to navigate the next moment, the next moment, and the one after that.
21:40 And that was a version of Dr. Anu Taranath's response. As I mentioned, we'll link to the
21:45 column in our show notes. You can explore more of Dr. Anu's work at anu taranath.com
21:52 and we'll also link to her book, Beyond Guilt Trips in our show notes. And if you have a
21:55 question that you would like Dr. Anu to address, please email us at unpacked@afar.com. We'd
22:01 love to include your question on a future show. Thanks for listening. We'll see you
22:05 next week.
22:08 Ready for more unpacking? Visit afar.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
22:13 We're @AfarMedia.
22:15 If you enjoyed today's exploration, I hope you'll come back for more great stories. Subscribing
22:20 makes this easy. You can find Unpacked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite
22:25 podcast platform. And be sure to rate and review the show. It helps other travelers
22:30 find it. This season, we also want to hear from you. Is there a travel dilemma, trend,
22:36 or topic you'd like us to explore? Email us at unpacked@afar.com.
22:41 This has been Unpacked, a production of Avar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislinn
22:46 Green and Nikki Galteland. Music composition by Chris Gollin. And remember, the world is
22:51 complicated. We're here to help you unpack it.
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