by Ilya » Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:10 pm
She's from Ukraine. Saying it to stop speculations about her nationality.
I saw her once near my previous place where I lived in TTP area. She was begging for money at the traffic light. I was surprised to see a Caucasian beggar so I decided to approach her and chat. She didn't speak good English (I'm fact she struggled to explain anything) but her accent seemed like she might be Eastern European.
Since I'm from Russia and she turned out Ukrainian we communicated in Russian.
She made me quite mad when she said in English that they're traveling and they need money. So reading all the comments above I can understand your feelings. But as we chatted in her native language she was able to explain that it's not that they're traveling now. How can anyone travel if you even think of if? She and her boyfriend were struggling to stay afloat as the borders closed and they had no money to return back to Ukraine. They also had little money to live in Phnom Penh. So they had nothing left but to beg in the streets.
Trust me, her English was way too poor to find a job here. Needless to say, she speaks no Khmer either.
There's no Ukrainian embassy here, so there's nowhere they can go and get the legal help for free. The Russian embassy won't deal with them due to unstable political relations between two countries.
To sum up, I only chatted with her once half a year ago. And to be honest it seemed quite real and not staged. However, everything is possible and it can easily turn out their normal lifestyle. I think I believed her story rather than not.
She's from Ukraine. Saying it to stop speculations about her nationality.
I saw her once near my previous place where I lived in TTP area. She was begging for money at the traffic light. I was surprised to see a Caucasian beggar so I decided to approach her and chat. She didn't speak good English (I'm fact she struggled to explain anything) but her accent seemed like she might be Eastern European.
Since I'm from Russia and she turned out Ukrainian we communicated in Russian.
She made me quite mad when she said in English that they're traveling and they need money. So reading all the comments above I can understand your feelings. But as we chatted in her native language she was able to explain that it's not that they're traveling now. How can anyone travel if you even think of if? She and her boyfriend were struggling to stay afloat as the borders closed and they had no money to return back to Ukraine. They also had little money to live in Phnom Penh. So they had nothing left but to beg in the streets.
Trust me, her English was way too poor to find a job here. Needless to say, she speaks no Khmer either.
There's no Ukrainian embassy here, so there's nowhere they can go and get the legal help for free. The Russian embassy won't deal with them due to unstable political relations between two countries.
To sum up, I only chatted with her once half a year ago. And to be honest it seemed quite real and not staged. However, everything is possible and it can easily turn out their normal lifestyle. I think I believed her story rather than not.