simon43 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:53 am To be cruelly honest (IMHO), the best thing would to be deport her back to the UK and have her barred from entering Cambodia.

The sad fact is there's a huge number of people back in the UK that are just like her.

I still think they should give her unrestricted access to all her money and facebook. Get a TV crew to document her exploits as she stumbles from one disaster to another. The viewing public, especially her demographic, would lap it up as one of their own crashes and burns.

She is beyond help.

John Bingham: The book/bangle sellers/ beggars/ druggies in the Riverside/ Wat Phnom area are a very prominent group that is barely visible in the outlying districts. The vast majority of the poorest live outside that central district.

This is a key point. Why is it that Ellis has singled out this family in particular as needing help? From her rantings, it appears due to:

1. they are homeless sleeping in the streets
2. the mother was pregnant about to give birth
3. their kids run around dirty and naked
4. they make a living begging and recycling rubbish
AND HERE'S THE KICKER...
5. they are very visible and conveniently located in the tourist riverside area of 130...presumably not far from Ellis's place.

Seems to me as JB says..there are a lot worse off than this family however they are just not visible to most expats and tourists.

Remember the bangle/trinket seller 15yr old Vanny? She claims she goes to school in the morning and then sells in the afternoon and makes $15 a day usually (albeit Pieman claims she understated that). Well fook me, waitresses on riverside earn $5-7 for an 8 hour day before tips and they have rent to pay, transport costs, family to support etc. A beggar only has to get $5 in a few minutes and be set for the day...easy money arguably. It's obviously in the interests of some these begging families on riverside to look poor and get sympathy from tourists.

I saw a woman carrying a naked baby on riverside begging at a riverside restaurant squeezing the baby's backside to make it cry.. There are exceptions of course of ones that really deserve it. For example, the frail very old lady that walks around with her back bent over 90 degrees..

In the video of Ellis at the hospital with the pregnant woman, there's a glimpse of the woman's husband. I know this dude and see him around all the time..he's a fooking no hoper..drinks and smokes and I suspect he does drugs. Have also seen him walk around with a naked baby begging at the hostess bars.

Freightdog: Providing help and assistance is one thing, but disrupting someones life for a short while is quite another. If you suddenly provide candy/toys/comforts to a family that has not had these before, several problems arise-
Are you changing anything, or is it just a blip? Was it wasted effort?
When the gifts run out, it's not the giver who must cope with it- it's the mother of the kids. She probably now has to deal with the questions as to why it's being taken away. Raising expectations and helping people are entirely different and even conflicting, requiring some care and consideration.

Another excellent point. Are you actually helping giving them a short term sugar rush?? Is she actually making things worse for them by unnecessarily raising expectations? Doesn't it entrench them in their way of life of being dependent on begging or getting handouts? Of course they love her....

But most of all and the main point I wanted to make in this post....are there not more worthy people deserving of help??

prahocalypse now wrote: ↑Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:45 pm
Later in the evening when she returned to her hostel....

Are you sure she lives in a hostel? I heard she rents an $800 apartment.