Almost tricked.

I am a sucker. We were forewarned in multiple ways of the terrible begging that goes on in Cambodia. Children are sent out at very young ages to beg. An average adult makes 3x as much money begging than working, so tourists are strongly encouraged not to give any money. But there is a particularly sneaky scam out there that pull on many tourists heartstrings (including mine, and I even knew about it beforehand!).

Dave and I were walking along when the sweetest looking little boy came jogging up beside us. When he caught up to us he started saying a single word. I thought he was saying “meal” but I couldn’t tell. I tried to figure out what he was saying, when he grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards a convenience store. I looked at Dave, and he just kind of rolled his eyes at me and followed us in. The boy immediately grabbed a can of powdered formula for babies. Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? Well, it’s also really expensive, about $6 a can! I told him no and bought him a little single serving container of actual milk for him to drink. He was pouting like crazy as he left the store, jamming his straw in his boxed drink.

Here’s the trick: the unsuspecting tourist buys the milk, which the child takes home to mom who turns around and sells it. There is no “baby brother or sister” as the children will often say.