Donation and Charity has become rather hostile in Singapore. As I was walking down the underpass with my friend Esther at Orchard Road (TANGS mall), a young man clad in a polo shirt and jeans carrying a file approached us. I managed to walk away but he stopped Esther.

"Excuse me, can you give me 3 minutes?" The man questioned her. Esther walked away, but he followed and barred her way.

"Just 3 minutes... I am from the Trust Leaf Organisation and we ... help the ex-convicts..." (or something like that) Esther shook her head and wanted to walk off. But he kept following her. To 'get rid' of him, we donated $2 to him and left.

Meaning of charity: It is to give willingly to the less-fortunate. However, this is not the case. The people asking for donations are usually forcing you to donate. Leaving no choice for you to donate or not as they will not stop following you. I have also seen these kind of people driving students to a corner to ask for donations and worst off, they target students.

It is really irritating to me as it has happened to me for three times. In fact, I feel that this is definitely not the right way of asking for donations. It is not that I am heartless or cruel or just being a miser. I would very much like to donate but I would do it through those trustable donation drives like Red Cross. The NKF saga has been a lesson learnt, but that should not make us close our wallets.

Please be more courteous and open-minded when asking for charity. If a person refuse, please please let the person go and stop stalking them.

<3
Elaine