Two Kids Being Exploited in Singapore

Maybe I was wrong, but it looked like a scam in which innocent children got involved.

I saw these two girls performing gymnastics the very first night when I arrived in Singapore on Thursday. At that time, I thought their performance was really great, and tossed a few dollars into the basket right in front of their mini performing stage.

Then a couple of days passed, and I saw them again Saturday, around 7:00 in the evening on the same place, right in front to the Takashimaya on Orchard Road, where all major shopping malls and luxury brands are located.

I stopped to look at them again. These girls were really amazing. It seemed that they were totally boneless, so they could twist their limbs in a way that's totally impossible to the untrained.

I tossed a few dollars to them again.

When I returned from my dinner around 9:00 pm, I saw these girls still performing. Suddenly something struck me.

One of the performers looked no more than 9 years old, while the other is a few years older, but shouldn't be more than 12 years old. Aren't they supposed to be in school? What do they want to do with all the hard-earned money?

I tried to talk to the Chinese-looking guy, who sat behind the tiny performing area, and who was obviously the girls' boss.

He wouldn't want to answer my simple questions such as "Where are you from?" or "Where is the donation going to end up with?"

Instead, he directed me to look at their poster in the front.

It actually didn't say much on the poster, except that Mongolian kids are poor and need help blah blah blah. Plus a few photos of Mongolian kids.

There's no contact info, or any indication of their affiliation or where they donation will go to.

I tried to take a shot of the poster, but was immediately stopped by the guy.

Everything looked fishy. I'm wondering why or how they could obtain a license to perform in this tightly-controlled country.

The guy in red T-shirt chatted with another Chinese-looking guy. But when I tried to talk to him in Mandarin, he replied in English.

See the Paragon building in the background? That's one luxury shopping mall in Singapore.

See, this girl could be an Olympic champ on gymnastics.

I was forbidden to take a shot of this poster, but I still managed to do it from a distance, using my 200mm telescope lens on my Nikon D80.

The girls performed several hours a day. A guy and a woman sat behind. One big poster stood in front and sought sympathy for Mongolian kids. Quite a crowd gathered whenever the kids performed.