Questionable alms collectors<\/p>\n
From Media Indonesia<\/p>\n
I am concerned by the increasing number of door-to-door
\ncollectors of donations who usually claim to act on behalf of
\ncertain foundations whose legality is not clear and whose
\nlocation is only God knows where. Many of them are very insistent
\nand resort to a variety of ways to gain the attention of the
\noccupants of a house they happen to visit: from tapping on the
\nfence with a coin to shouting a greeting in a very impolite tone.
\nThe trouble is that we cannot verify whether the collection is
\ngenuine because the address given -- often without a telephone
\nnumber -- is usually somewhere far away.<\/p>\n
At first I, though unwilling, often used to give money to them
\nas I took pity on their appearance and was sometimes touched by
\ntheir polite requests. However, something that happened to me a
\nwhile ago has made me think many times before deciding to give
\nanything to these donation collectors.<\/p>\n
One day I was at my mother's house when one such collector
\ncame and tapped the fence with a coin. As I was then typing, I
\nasked my mother's maid to see him and ask what he wanted. When
\nthe door was opened and he saw me sitting before my computer, he
\nshouted to me, \"Donation, ma'am.\" My mother's maid told him that
\nthe woman owner of the house was out but this man kept on
\nshouting to me asking for a donation. Finally, as I was then too
\nbusy to do anything else, I simply said, \"Sorry, not this time,
\nMas.\"<\/p>\n
Then something I never would have expected happened. He said
\nto my mother's maid, \"Tell her I hope she dies soon.\" I heard it
\nonly indistinctly, but as soon as my mother's maid confirmed to
\nme that he had said exactly that, I rushed out and asked him what
\nhe had just said. He spat before me, but because I then
\nthreatened to call the neighborhood chief, he took to his heels.
\nThen I was told that before coming to my mother's house, he had
\nknocked hard on the fence of a neighbor. Well, it is just another
\nform of terrorization, isn't it?<\/p>\n
I am really confused as to how to deal with such people. I
\nhave also heard that some criminals pretend to be donation
\ncollectors to case a house they make it their target. I'm
\nhorrified just thinking about this.<\/p>\n
I should apologize to donation collectors who are honest and
\npolite because the above may offend them. And to the authorities
\nresponsible for social affairs, I would like to call on them to
\nthink of a way to deal with this problem.<\/p>\n
ELA<\/p>\n
Tangerang, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/questionable-alms-collectors-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }