Giving pens to children in India is a big no no for foreign tourists. Though it may seem an innocent act of goodwill, it has some long-lasting repercussions. Here’s why you should stop giving pens to children in India, and some alternative ways to give to children in the country.
In that moment, the child is the most adorable child in the world.
Big brown eyes, a blindingly white smile, little school uniform so perfectly pressed. Their tiny feet pound the ground as they run toward you, their backpack flapping on their back haphazardly. Other children, noticing you, begin to congregate around your legs. As they look up at you, heads just barely coming up to your belly, you can’t help but smile yourself. You’re about to experience the “real” India all those guidebooks talk about.
… then it begins.
“Pen?”
“What is your name? Give me pen!”
“No pen? Give me money!”
Like a flock of noisy seagulls, a high-pitched chorus of demands rises from the throng, and what started out as a emotional moment has ended with you being treated as a human vending machine.
PEN! PEN! PEN!
Resist and desist
It’s a common scene throughout India, as well as other countries. Big-hearted (or deep-pocketed) foreign tourists come in, encounter The Most Adorable Children Ever living in less-than-ideal conditions, and heartstrings are tugged. The tourists buy them pens, candy, some cheap toys. The children are delighted, the tourists feel like saints, everybody wins, right?
Wrong. Though intentions may be good, the repercussions are not:
- Children will expect foreigners to hand out free goods to them. There’s another word for this: begging. Are you comfortable encouraging begging?
- If begging is incentivized, children may drop out of school in favor of taking to the streets and collecting goods from foreigners. Why go to school when you can profit on the streets?
- Scams emerge where children ask tourists to buy them goods, then return the goods to the shop in exchange for a profit.
- “Begging mafias” might recruit the children to work for them. Children are often maimed as a way of making them more pitiable, and thus profitable.
Put your parenting hat on
“Oh, you’re so cold hearted,” you might be thinking, “a pen is just a little gift. Besides, they need it!”
Not convinced, eh? Let’s try another approach: imagine you’re a parent. If your child walked up to you and demanded you give them something, would you give in?
What if, when you denied their demand, they then insist you give them money?
… I’m thinking the answer is something along the lines of “Aww hell naw.” If you wouldn’t give in then, why would you do the same to someone else’s children on the street?
Photoshoot time! (With consent from their parents to both take photos and put them online.)
What you can do instead of giving pens to children in India
I’m not saying you should turn into a miser and lock your heart away forever. It’s okay to want to help out people in need—just make sure you do so responsibly. Here are 5 alternatives to giving pen to children in India:
1. Buy school supplies from a local convenience store and give them to a teacher.
This kills several birds with one stone:
- You contribute to the local economy by buying the pens locally.
- This ensures donations end up in the right hands, and prevents children from squabbling over who gets what.
- School supplies cannot be as easily misused as cash donations.
- You ultimately get to give kids pens. Wins all around!
2. Have a mini-photoshoot.
Kids everywhere in the world love to ham it up for the camera. If you have a digital camera, ask if you can take their photo—the answer will definitely be yes—and snap away! Show them the photos you take, and you’re sure to be rewarded with all kinds of giggles, squeals, and demands to take more photos.
Even better: let them take some photos, too! Just make sure they’re gentle with your camera or phone.
If you want to take it to the next level, consider getting an instant camera for those really special kids. Photos can be expensive, and many families don’t have the money or resources to have photos taken of themselves. An instant photo is a nice gift that can be cherished much more than a pen… and they’re more fun!
Tip: Try to only do this when the family is around, or when there aren’t too many children. Otherwise it may lead to some bickering about who gets to keep the photo(s) in the end.
3. Take some time to talk or teach a special high five or game.
Children might be interested in material objects, but you have something much more valuable to offer them: a chance to exercise language skills! Most are delighted to do so, and hand games and high fives are something that can easily be explained in basic English and can be used amongst themselves for days to come.
4. Go on a responsible tour that benefits the children’s community
Being a good tourist is in right now (let’s hope it’s never passé), and tour operators have been listening. “Responsible” tours ensure local communities benefit by distributing proceeds among the communities they operate in, crafting itineraries with local leaders, properly disposing of waste, etc.
One example is the New Delhi Walking Tour. Run by the Salaam Balak Trust, it provides education, shelter, and medical help to street children in Delhi.
5. Donate to an NGO or charity that works with children in India.
Sometimes, we need to accept that we have no freakin’ clue what’s best for people. And that’s okay.
There are hundreds of charities and NGOs that work to improve living conditions and education for children in India. They know what’s up, to say the least, and giving money to them can be much more effective (and efficient) than figuring out what to do yourself.
It’s important, however, to donate to organizations that have proven to be effective. To save you some time, here are several reputable Indian organizations you can donate to:
- Seva Mandir works to improve the lives of people—including children—in rural Rajasthan. This includes providing quality education and proper child care.
- Smile Foundation has a variety of aims, one of which is to provide proper education and nutrition for children in school.
- Chirag is working to improve the quality of education and general welfare of young students in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand.
- Akshaya Patra combats malnutrition by providing mid-day meals to more than 1.7 million school children every day.
- Aarohi has a youth program that goes beyond the classroom and promotes extracurriculars like sports, trekking, and just playing outside—all essential to ensure kids stay away from crime and drugs.
Go forth, and be responsible
So ends my sermon. I know not everyone will agree with me (woe is me, I have failed), and there are other alternatives I haven’t touched upon. That’s where you come in.
What’s your opinion on the subject? Do you give to children and beggars?
Pin it!
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I do agree with you! This is an excellent post and I can tell you have thought about how to word and structure your case in order to get your message across as people may think you aren’t being fair. As a traveller, we do have a responsibility to not mess with culture and, as sad as it may sound, giving gifts directly to children is messing with it – I have seen this first hand. It’s so sad to hear a child demanding sweets or pens because they have grown used to receiving gifts even though it’s completely understandable that foreigners want to help – I totally get that! I think your suggestions however are brilliant so thank you for having the courage to write this post and provide sustainable alternatives, I applaud you!
Thanks! We don’t view it as courageous, just trying to do our part to promote responsible travel 🙂 It’s a bit disconcerting how many people we’ve met, both local and foreign, that don’t see the dangers of freebie handouts.
But, of course, it might just be a matter of opinion, so a bit of discourse via this post is also an aim!
Great article! I completely agree that as travellers we shouldn’t be dolling out things (or money) left, right and centre, even if their sweet little faces make us feel oh so guilty and cold-hearted. It’s a short-term fix that could have life long implications.
Word. People need to start thinking about the long term, rather than looking for the instant do-good gratification. But it’s admittedly hard sometimes when all those teeny adorable kids have got you surrounded!
This was well done, thank you! I’m always looking for ways to help people more long term than just giving them money when I pass by. I’m still working on my willpower when surrounded by those cuties though <3 As a teacher, I totally agree with and appreciate the suggestion to give them the supplies! How did I not think of that?! Lol
It can be hard to say no, we know!
Just be cautious when giving to teachers at schools. It’s hard to say how—though you’re a teacher yourself, so you should be able to get a feel for the class quickly—but you don’t want to give supplies to a conniving teacher that will just sell them off once you disappear, too. Food for thought!
I’m so glad you mentioned the New Delhi Walking Tour with Salaam Balak Trust. I went on a tour with them and it was fabulous!
Good to hear that you enjoyed it!
Oh, I understand that people are torn apart and thus I love your tips how to really help them. Pinned!
Yep, most people mean well, they just need to be pointed in the right direction 🙂 Thanks for the pin!
Great post Alex and thank you for writing about this! I find the same goes for buying/giving food – so often we want to help but sadly it has exactly the opposite consequence and we make things worse. Thanks for bringing a solution based approach with plenty of things we CAN do!!
I’d rather buy food than give money or objects, but you’re right, it does have the same effect in the end.
Alex, amazing post! Thank you so much for taking the time to not only point out the problem with giving money/pens/gifts to children but providing actionable solutions that can be done instead! This is great 🙂 keep doing your thing!!
Cheers Brittany! Options for solutions are what help to drive change, not aimless rants. I do my best!
Thank you for sharing this amazing post and all your knowledge! It’s easy to fall into these traps while traveling, and it’s good to know there’s always something else one can do that will actually be a win win for everybody, without having to worry if you’re being scammed or causing harm 🙂
Thankya Kristine 🙂 There’s often a solution, but the line of thought to get there isn’t always the most clear.
Great post! I usually don’t give pennies/anyhting else to children, but at the same time feel bad about not ding anything…Thanks for sharing some suggestions on what to do instead 🙂
Even knowing what we do, we still often feel bad about saying no to them. Just gotta keep the bigger picture in mind, and choose a more responsible approach!
Thank you for this. When my sister and I were traveling around Nepal & India we had kids following us continuously asking for pens. I never really thought about the detrimental consequences of that until reading your article. Yes it does promote begging! Thanks for providing alternative options! You are truly a thinking traveler:)
Never fear, I went many a year without really thinking about the consequences, too. But the more I travel, the more I see, and the more I realize some common practices are really quite harmful to communities. I think it’s our responsibility as visitors to a country to ensure we have a positive impact, not negative.