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I Wonder
Lens: SMC Pentax-M 50mm f:1.4 Camera: Pentax Spotmatic Photo Location: Hong Kong 
Posted By: Dewman, 12-30-2015, 09:23 AM

I was browsing through some old color slides I took about 50 years ago, while I was in the Navy and came across this photo of two little beggar kids I photographed while we were on R&R in Hong Kong. They always kept my pockets empty because I just couldn't tell them no, and I'd always give them a few dollars.

You have to understand, $5.00 would probably feed their entire family for a week back then, in 1966.

I wonder where they are today? I wonder if they're still alive? I wonder if they remember the little, baby-faced American Sailor who gave them a US $5.00 bill?

I wonder.

Last edited by Dewman; 03-30-2016 at 02:52 PM.
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12-30-2015, 01:14 PM - 1 Like   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by First Poster Quote
$5.00 would probably feed their entire family

Of course, that wasn't a trivial amount for your average E3/E4 back then, either! Great moment and photograph...
12-30-2015, 02:25 PM   #3
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How very kind of you. Great story.
12-30-2015, 06:18 PM   #4
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As a side note to this story, here's the hovel these precious little children lived in. It was called "The Rooftop Section." What I found incredible was, 5 blocks away was the Hong Kong Hilton, with the millionaires in their tuxedos pulling up in their limousines, oblivious to the abject poverty so close by! I was a 20-year-old farm kid from California and I just couldn't comprehend such a thing! Now, I'm a 70-year-old, grumpy old man and I STILL can't comprehend it!


Last edited by Dewman; 03-30-2016 at 02:52 PM.
12-31-2015, 06:22 AM   #5
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Thanks for sharing these shots (the shot of the kids is great!) and the story.
Have a great 2016!
12-31-2015, 06:34 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by CreationBear Quote
Of course, that wasn't a trivial amount for your average E3/E4 back then, either! Great moment and photograph...

Thanks for the kind words, CB. No, if I remember correctly, my pay as an E3 then was about $112.00 a month, so $5.00 was, as you said, no trivial amount, but the reward I got for giving it to those destitute children was worth ten times that.

---------- Post added 12-31-15 at 06:45 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by slowpez Quote
How very kind of you. Great story.

Thank you, Susan. It's odd.... after reviewing these old slides a half a century later, it was a most compelling moment of melancholy.

---------- Post added 12-31-15 at 06:46 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by volley Quote
Thanks for sharing these shots (the shot of the kids is great!) and the story.
Have a great 2016!

Thanks for the kind words, Norbert. All the best in 2016!
12-31-2015, 08:11 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Dewman Quote
Now, I'm a 70-year-old, grumpy old man and I STILL can't comprehend it!
I have a feeling the world is worse off today in terms of poverty than it was half a century ago. Somewhere between the 70s or 90s we had reached the top of the bell curve and we are heading fast downhill again.

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