lim peh ka li kong 令伯卡你讲

Skill and style of telling stories is as per what you see - Singlish plus Hokkien dialects. Kam siah for coming into my BLOG and read, thank you! All content is copywrite "Old Beng" unless otherwise noted.

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Boy

lim peh ka li kong

Yesterday afternoon, while relaxing at home hiding from the very hot sun, a small boy about 10 years old came knocking at our house.

As our maid was sweeping the floor near the gate, she talked to the little boy, using her limited English.

After a while, our maid came and told us, "Sir, boy... money... no rice..."

I tell you ah, lim peh always have difficulty understanding what our maid says.

When I went to see the boy, I saw him standing under the sun.

"Yes, boy....?" I asked the boy who was looking at me.

"Er... can you give me $6 to buy rice?" The boy asked me.

"$6 to buy rice? What do you mean?"

The Little boy pointed his finger to his right and said,"My brother and I...."

I couldn't hear him clearly as he mumbled when he talked or was it lim peh's hearing got problem but I guessed he was trying to tell me that both his brother and him needed $6 to buy rice.

Lim peh was furious with the boys' parents for not providing food for their children which led them in asking for money from house to house.

"Where do you stay?" I asked the boy as I walked towards him.

"Teban Garden."

"Can you give me your address?"

The moment he heard me asking for his address, he turned and ran away.

I was really puzzled as to why the boy ran away.

Was he hungry?
Would his brother and him starve?
What kind of parents let their children going around asking for money to buy food?
Why did he run away when I asked for his address?
Was he afraid that I will confront his parents later?

Guess I will never know now....

lim peh kong wan liao
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17 Comments:

  • At Monday, July 14, 2008 11:40:00 AM , Blogger 新怡 said...

    bcos you are too smart

     
  • At Monday, July 14, 2008 11:53:00 AM , Blogger Mockingbird said...

    that's the problem with all these kids asking people for alms. never know which are the genuinely poor and needy ones which are the ones out to con our money.

    I was once conned by a girl who said her family very poor. She was selling some floor-cleaning acid. The acid turned out to be pretty useless. I was conned of my money. This happened when I was at my parents’ place at Kembangan.

    A couple of years later, I saw the same threesome, a woman and her two kids, knocking on the door of the residents at Punggol. This time round, the girl’s acting had improved considerably. She certainly looked and sounded more pitiable. As I recognised them, I didn’t let them con me of my money.

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:05:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Cheats! Thats what they are, preying on the kind hearted souls.. Imagine 5 families gave the boys the $6.. = $30..

    Dont wanna sound heartless, but I have given and saw such similar cheats walking out of 4D shops after telling me she needed money to buy food for her sick parents. They came over from Malaysia and she couldnt get a job.. Its a lady who speaks very authentic Malaysian chinese and she preys around Bugis area if I am not wrong, saw her 2 times @ Bugis Junction, 1 time @ Shaw Towers.. Caught her buy 4D at Alexandra..

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:23:00 AM , Blogger FML said...

    i don't think those who are genuinely poor will go around knocking door to door begging for money.

    i have experience kids asking me for money to eat at kopitiam.

    this is a very worrisome trend. just like the fable of boy who keep lying about wolves coming, it may be hard to know who really in need to help in future *sighz*

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:31:00 AM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    新怡
    Is it? Kam siah.

    Mockingbird
    Once bitten, twice shy.

    Spyder
    Ask for money and buy 4D! Too much leh but you run almost whole SIngapore hor, from Bugis to Shaw Towers to Alexandra...

    FML
    So what will you do?

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:55:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    A middle age man approached me and my wife this morning and begging us to buy some pens from him. Infact, my wife gave him money just one day ago, this guy come to the food court everyday.

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:16:00 PM , Blogger Mockingbird said...

    Twice bitten, never try.

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:26:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Don Lim
    I think all these people conned and got money from kind-hearted souls too easily. Although we always tell ourselves not to fall into their trap again but everytime we see a poor kid or a handicapped person, we will still give.

    Mockingbird
    Hmmm...

     
  • At Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:18:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Most Singaporeans are kind-hearted, shy, passive people.. Normally, most would nudge and give a little.. =) Tats what my experience tells me.. & Yes, I do run around whole of Singapore.. =P

     
  • At Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:24:00 AM , Blogger FML said...

    just ignore them lah

     
  • At Wednesday, July 16, 2008 11:22:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    If it was me who met the boy, I will give him the money....
    Even thought it is 99.9% chance that the boy is cheating people, there is still a 0.1% that he really need money badly.
    If I really got cheated, I am just $6 poorer...but what if the boy really need this money urgently to buy rice???

     
  • At Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:45:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    char-bo-lang says :

    dear anonymous, we would want to help the boy too but he ran away, I was telling old beng that if the boy needed money to buy rice, we'll give him rice and if need arise, we'll even bring him with us to the nearby esso-ntuc station to buy him a 5kg packet of rice and give him a ride home to his house so that we can understand if his family needs further help.

    I feel that in such situations, it would be better not to give cash.

     
  • At Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:23:00 PM , Blogger 新怡 said...

    I agreed to char-bo-lang.

    Cash only can solved may be for short term but not long term.

     
  • At Thursday, July 17, 2008 5:26:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Spyder
    Run around whole Singapore? Now petrol very expensive leh.

    FML
    But sometimes when we see some old people or handicapped people, we will still gice some money la.

    Anonymous
    In such cases, we share different views. We will try not to give money but instead buy necessity groceries like rice, dried mushrooms, dried beehoon, oats etc for the needy.

    cha bo lang
    :)

    新怡
    I agree with your agreement to cha-bo-lang's view.

     
  • At Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:35:00 PM , Blogger FML said...

    if one really want to help, i totally agree that we buy what they need, definitely NO NO to giving cash.

    BLIND compassion refers to a tendency for people to give people what they want as opposed to what they need, all in the name of being "generous" & "compassionate". also, the giver possibly gets the "feel good" of having doing a good deed done.

    so is this really doing a good deed for needy or merely a good deed for oneself? ;P

     
  • At Friday, July 18, 2008 9:09:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    old beng - of coz i know petrol expensive lah.. no choice leh..

    finding mr lazy - like the way you phrase it.. do good deed is for the needy, but i guess if one really helps out of sincerity, its good too lah..

     
  • At Monday, July 21, 2008 11:28:00 AM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    FML
    You maybe right but for us, we just do it without really thinking whether doing good deed for the needy or for our shiok-ness :)

    Spyder
    >> but i guess if one really helps out of sincerity, its good too lah..

    Well said :)

     

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