to wonder what is going on?

[PosieParker]

So out shopping yesterday, saw a lady begging she was with a baby in a pushchair. Whilst I'm a little broke I am not having to beg to strangers and I had £5 in my pocket. So I approached her and she handed me a handwritten note saying 'babies milk, nappies and food please. I am a refugee.' I handed her the money and she grimaced telling me how much she had to buy, I asked her why she wasn't feeding the baby herself (thinking that in Bosnia where she came from that would be common practice and would save lots of money) and she said she had hepatitis. I was a little peeved that she complained what I given wasn't enough but decided to ask her how she got here and had she sought help from our government and what was available. She said she had waited for nearly a year for benefits and that she was sharing a one room flat with her mother, who was looking after her other small child, and that her DH would come when he could.

I'm just curious really as to how this happens? However or whyever she got here how is she living without money? Could she be 'imported' and given no info? Can be really be here legally and have no money? This is England 2010 and people are living like this?

She's probably illegal, so can't claim benefits easily. Equally, she may have had the benefits and spent them elsewhere. It doesn't take a year to get them sorted and if she was legal she would have a case worker ensuring that she had them. We never know the full story, but you still did a nice thing for her and her baby.

Don't take this woman on face value. Gangs of foreign beggars operate here. They usually have children with them (or are children themselves) but the money - be under no illusion - is going to their ringleader, not their baby. If you want to be generous another time, offer the woman a tin of SMA... then see what reaction you get.

They just arrested a band of Gypsies who had been using children to beg. They were making £100,000 a year PER child. It seems that the children did not belong to the Gypsies, but had been stolen from their parents and smuggled to England and were being abused and forced to do begging.

I hadn't thought of that...the gang and it not being for her. I go to China every year and you see it everywhere, tiny kids begging and then you see them run to adults giving them the money.

It's highly unlikely she told you the truth. Her baby might not be her baby, she's probably claiming benefits too and the money probably isn't staying in her pocket, sorry. As Chil1234 said, next time offer a tin of formula or a pack of nappies, can't imagine you'll get much thanks.

Still, you did a kind thing and it's worth noting that.