It’s called the Siem Reap a baby formula scam.
I just heard about it two days ago due to my teammate Hannah Adkisons well intended efforts to meet the need in front of her.
On Friday before heading to her ministry location for the month we were sitting having one last date over the most missed of all foods Mexican! There, she told me everything.
” Beth, I was walking down pub street when this young mother with her poor baby laying almost lifeless on her hip asked me to buy infant formula. She said she didn’t want money, just to go to the grocery store so that she can buy formula for her starving baby. Beth, I didn’t think twice.”
Emotionally driven and in the moment, Hannah bought the $30 canister of infant formula and a meal for the mother too. She prayed for them and said goodbye.
Later that evening at the Mexican restaurant (for the 3rd time, WE REALLY missed Mexican food!) another teammate noticed a small orange flyer posted near the bar. It said:
So duh, Hannah check out the website and her heart from blessing that mother went from joy to utter disbelief and disgust.
She was scammed.
Every day, well-intentioned visitors fall for this scam, thinking that the $30 canister of formula they are buying is going to feed that hungry drowsy baby. allowing both the baby and the desperate mother or disheveled older child to head home. Unfortunately, as I learned that’s not really what’s going on.
As soon as the tourist leaves the milk is sold back to the grocery store – The shop gets half of the money, the child or “mother” hands the rest over to the adult who is effectively exploiting them, to exploit the baby in their hands. At the end of the day this is a very well organized scam, making a lot of money, for both involved. (Cambodian average daily income is about $2).
Children involved DO NOT benefit, they end up walking the streets day and night continuing this cycle of begging and scamming.
The reason it continues is because heck at $30 a canister, it’s very profitable for those making the money.
These children miss out on a childhood, schooling, innocence, and are exploited by their own people even families.
They are placed in risky environments and have no control.
It is the most unbelievable situations I’ve faced yet.
What I’m learning is its important to understand by buying the milk formula you are encouraging this behavior. You are saying YES, I will temporarily meet this need, feel better about what I did and leave you in the same (if not worse) situation. You are saying you actually support it.
Now you may be reading this and wondering WOAH whah what’s the big deal? This desperately poor family is getting some much-needed income and help, so why does it matter if they trade the formula for cash? It’s only $30.
Y’all, I hate this part… truth is so much darker. From what I’ve researched the locals speculate that the baby-beggars are run by a “mafia” of sorts.
Found on MoveToCambodia.com: “If you get a cup of coffee on Pub Street in the early evening before sunset, you’ll see seven or eight young women descend on the street at the exact same time, each of them carrying a bleary-eyed baby slung to her hip, many of them blowing cigarette smoke in their faces. Women don’t always carry the same baby, indicating that the babies are merely rented or borrowed for the night. Many of the babies are carried by older children and the babies are uncharacteristically docile.”
Unfortunately buying milk formula only reinforces these practices and makes certain that these children remain in this position.
So fast forward to today. The team and I had just finished lunch at surprise the Mexican restaurant (it’s Viva and it’s soo good!) and we decided to get Gelato one last time before heading to the teams across Cambodia at their ministry locations for the month! Now I wasn’t feeling very Gelato-e so I crossed the street to get a fruit smoothie.
I ordered my smoothie, and stood there just taking in the day. I noticed this handsome touristy couple getting up from their table…….
to follow this young girl holding a baby and I heard her say “milk for Baby.
I despise my ears for listening……..
Ok, what do I do? Ok seriously God, we got 2.5 seconds WHAT DO I DO!? God what do I do?
I calmly walked over to the couple, introduced myself informed them of what happened to Hannah, I pointed to the orange sign at the bar, and told them that they were about to become the victim of a scam.
The barefooted little girl holding a baby the size of a two year old.
She probably 9 or 10 years old herself, stomped on my foot so hard that it twisted my toes almost out of my chaos. It hurt so bad, I almost couldn’t stop myself from yelling in the couples face.
They thanked me and walked away.
With baby in tow She followed us, before The team could see what was going on this little girl, pinched me, scratched me, kicked me, and threatened me. She used an impressive vocabulary of english curse words to share her understandable frustration towards me. Over the next two+ hours the little girl stalked me.
Katelyn,Hannah, and Taylor took me to get my nails painted at the $5 salon and the little girl waited outside the entire time.
I was scared of her.
Fearful that she might pinch me harder or kick my shin the next time. I have NEVER been afraid or ran away from a child. What is this twisted situation?
So badly I want to give her everything that our father in heaven intends for his precious daughter. I want to take her to get ice cream and her nails painted. I want to braid her hair and laugh so hard that we can’t help but shed a tear. I want to hug her and love her and tell her that she is so beautiful! Her little teeth were all decaying, and I wanted to see her smile so wide without a concern for how she looks. I want her to be a happy little girl and I want to see that precious baby on her hip healthy and walking and not in the care of a 9 year old little girl.
Psalm 82:3-4 “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” That’s what I want to do! why is it that I know I did the right thing but I feel like an awful person? Well Beth, because it’s not about you.
What I’ve not enjoyed learning and learned most on the race is the concept “when helping hurts.” And boy does it.
This situation is exactly that. It was awful. It hurt. I didn’t want to do that God. I wanted to not hear it, not see it and not stop it. But even in saying that I see that THAT IS THE PROBLEM.
So now you may be asking yourself, well how can I help the poor without keeping them there?
Theres no short answer, And another question is, doesn’t God calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the lost and take care of the orphans and widows? How can I do that if… I’m not doing that?? God does call us to Love the least of these, Doesn’t the bible say faith without works is dead?
In James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
I could rack my brain for hours trying to think what should I have really done? But at the end of the day I know that I did the right thing in the moment. I hate it. I feel awful about it all. And I just feel kinda small. All in all I feel like a first class jerk who prevented a child from feeding her “baby brother” or “sister”. I know this isn’t the case or the truth but I’m being honest.
Tozer wrote:
” God never uses anyone greatly until he tests them deeply.”
I think that’s me.
Peace and Blessings,
Beth in Cambodia Milam
#BethBeyondBorders #InCambodiaAsItIsInHeaven
Then I heard the voice of The Lord saying,
“whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. SEND ME!”
Isaiah 6:8
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