Life /
Gypies/Indian-looking women with kids beg for money in Poland [143]
I keep on being approached for money on the street by Indian-looking women carrying little kids.
In the Nowy Miasto in Warsaw the 'Indian-looking women' (Romany or Bulgarian beggars?) are found deliberately holding their kids in the rain to try to elicit undeserved sympathy from the tourists. There are groups of them in the alleyways near the Zamek Krolewski. On the main Warsaw tram routes a variant of the 'Indian looking' beggar's practice is that you will find their youths 'singing' a tuneless racket to try to gain a few groszy, in between tram stops. It is bad news if you are sitting at the front of the tram a mere few feet away from the vocal chords of those unwanted 'singers'. The beggars have 'Minders' who in return for bussing them in to the tourist centres, rake off a traditional tithe of Shekhels from their organised gangs of scroungers.
Other beggars comprised of hatchet-faced scrawny womenfolk walk the circuit around the Barbykan and castle walls 'pan handling'. Again with 'Minders' to try to ensure that the beggars do not get a citizen's arrest, and to warn them if the tourist police are nearby.
For those beggars who , rather than beneficially contribute to Europe; 'acting the helpless social parasite' beats doing a productive hard days graft to try to earn a living in a factory, farm or other work context appropriate to their limited capabilities .
