I hand some US$ to this blind bloke and his little girl. It’s a payment, not a donation. He plays music on his stringed instruments, as she leads him by a short rope and collects money in a small, plastic bucket. I’ll happily pay entertainers, but I don’t give money to beggars, except the elderly who no longer have the means to earn and have been cast aside. Like everywhere, Cambodia’s Sihanoukville has regular beggars – in particular here without a limb because of land mines – working the tourist routes. Giving them a dollar does not help them. Only their society, and the Government, have the solution. And let’s eradicate military land mines…

A blind musician and his little girl earn money on Serendipity Beach, Sihanoukville