Asking for $ to help with medical expenses

[DML]

So we have been living in GTO for a year now. Over the course of the year we have complete strangers (perhaps they live in the neighborhood, but I know most of our nearby neighbors) knock at our door asking for money to help with medical expenses for either themselves or a family member.

I find this very odd. Does this happen to anyone else?

I have never given them money. Everyone has been very polite and has not been rude or aggressive when I apologized for not being able to help them. We lived here 3 years ago (in a different neighborhood) and this never happened there.

Just wondering........

[colleen]

Well, that is interesting. I live in Pastita, Priv de Arquitectos and just last week I was visited by someone, I'll call her Abuelita, asking for $. No go. The next day a younger woman with a child rang a bell. I looked out and figured that was the daughter and grandson of the previous visitor. Some friends arrived and as they came into the driveway she took off. They saw her later with the rest of the family. Probably trying to figure out where to go next. That's the 1st time that has happened.

Years ago we'd get visited by Oligario and his burrows w/ "soil" which was really just leaves. He had a cute smile and I called him The Cute Con Man. If you bought one bag, he's smile so cute-ly and ask you to buy 3. One day he came to my bookstore (I don't have that anymore) and said his brother needed surgery in Leon. No, don't think so. They have free medical care here in MX w/ Seguro Popular. The last time he visited my home he was groaning and holding his side and said he needed surgery. I said, "that is sad, Oligario, but I can't help you". He immediately smiled (que milagro, I cured him) and has never come back. He doesn't acknowledge my existence and that's fine with me.

A few years ago there was a con going around the language schools and it came into my store also. The story was that the guy's wife was 8 months pregnant and fell and lost the baby and now she was in the hospital and he needed $ to bury the child and pay for his wife. Sure. Some friends handed over 200 pesos. The gringos care about people and we are such stupid suckers sometimes. Last year as I walked on Alonso, a man ran out of a business on the other side of the street and seemed so happy to see me. He said "do you remember me?". That's to throw you off, you'll be too nice to say you don't remember him. I said "your face is familiar but I'm not sure I remember you". He launched into the pregnant wife and dead child. I laughed and said "now I remember you" and walked away. I don't know if it was the same guy but it was the same story.

A funny one was the guy who showed me his credentials and said he is an abogado. (they show you their credentials all the time so you think they are on the up and up) He talked alot, bought a small thing from the store and then said that he and his friend would like to offer me any services I might require. I don't think he meant a will or a trust. I said that I understood his words but perhaps did not understand the meaning and he left. In the following week I was with my husband eating at Hotel Embajadoras and he walked down with an obviously Gringo woman. I hope she got the service she needed. I have lots more. I am not young or attractive but one guy wanted to give me a foot massage and have me close the store. Ahh, I don't think so.

A friend constantly made excuses about why he couldn't give the neighbor beggar money. I suggested he just say "no" and maybe that person wouldn't return. I prefer to work with groups who chose their recipients very well. I'm sure some of the old ladies w/ borrowed children have quite a stash. Recently I saw a young woman getting on her old grandma serape near Union Jardin, getting ready to look pathetic with her hand out.

Check out Brillantes Caminantes, the scholarship group that is very efficient with their meetings and their choice of students who receive scholarships, also Arco Iris a group that helps women and children, and of course, Amigos de Animales.

It's a learning experience and it has cost alot, but we're smarter now. Still make mistakes tho. Glad you put up this post.

[philyrossy]

Colleen, your experiences (and especially the way you describe them), made my day ! Thank you for sharing. Maybe you will share some others, from time to time? :D