Hi, all. After seeing the work of GiveDirectly (https://www.givedirectly.org), I started playing around with getting in touch directly with poor Kenyans and, thanks to the magic of Olx (basically the international Craigslist), WhatsApp, and M-PESA (Kenya's electronic money transfer system), I've managed to find and send money to a number of needy individuals.
While I haven't been able to reach the very poorest Kenyans, I've been able to reach Kenyans living on $100-$300/month, and sending them small amounts of money (low hundreds of dollars) has been absolutely life changing for them. Moreover, I've formed some really amazing and perspective-altering relationships. And it's injected a lot of meaning into my life to, say, send the single-mother $300 a month, so she can "live very comfortably" (her words) by renting a single room on a dirt road for her and her daughter.
So, would anyone of you be interesting in doing something similar? There's tons of obstacles here (not the least of which is protecting the recipients from abusive relationships) but, putting that aside, is this something you could see yourself doing?
Thanks so much!
While I haven't been able to reach the very poorest Kenyans, I've been able to reach Kenyans living on $100-$300/month, and sending them small amounts of money (low hundreds of dollars) has been absolutely life changing for them. Moreover, I've formed some really amazing and perspective-altering relationships. And it's injected a lot of meaning into my life to, say, send the single-mother $300 a month, so she can "live very comfortably" (her words) by renting a single room on a dirt road for her and her daughter.
So, would anyone of you be interesting in doing something similar? There's tons of obstacles here (not the least of which is protecting the recipients from abusive relationships) but, putting that aside, is this something you could see yourself doing?
Thanks so much!