When Lauren Ratner spent three months in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she was overwhelmed by the poverty and the number of people, including children, begging for money in the streets.

"Guilty" is how the 31-year-old D.C. resident describes her feelings at the time. Now working in maternal and child health policy, Ratner was in the country in 2003 for an internship with an international family planning organization. As a foreigner, she attracted plenty of beggars.

"I got so tired and bitter of always being such a target," she says. But on the other hand, "I was incredibly rich in comparison, so why shouldn't I be a target?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011200927.html

[Can't afford a SUV? Well, buy a cheap old Volkswagen and stop begging.]