A few days ago, I was sitting upstairs at Starbucks, studying Thermodynamics. I noticed this guy going around asking people something; he looked kinda lost. He asked each table and finally came to me and said "please, will you buy me a meal? I'm starving."
There are a lot of homeless people in Madrid, and apparently the number is increasing due to the 20% rate of unemployment in Spain. They are everywhere, and sometimes have a regular location to beg. Lately, I've had 3 people ask me in one day if I would buy them a meal. For some reason, this has never happened to me in Spain until now, but as the seasons change, I've been seeing more and more homeless people.
But then: what do you do? You can never tell if someone begging is being honest or not. I've noticed one "beggar" by my school peeking at his blackberry when he thought no one was looking. And then others wear expensive clothing from name brands, but then you wonder, was it a gift from someone who pitied them?
At least it's almost better if someone asks you to buy them a meal, because if you give them money, they might just gamble it away in one of Madrid's thousands of gambling parlors. I can't give to everyone, but it just breaks my heart when I have to say no.
My school here runs a program where students make sandwiches and then go out together and distribute them after 9:00. I wanted to do it, but they wouldn't let me because I'm an exchange student. So, I've decided that I really want to do something other than St. Vincent's table when I get back to the United States. If anyone knows about a SRO at U of I that does things like this, let me know!
Ariel
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