Ask HN: Would you donate directly to poor Kenyans?

by pw on 4/21/2018, 6:18 AM with 19 comments

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!

  • by arialeks on 4/21/2018, 2:22 PM

    Last week I got scammed by some guy that came to my door asking for money so he can have a hand surgery, he showed me his hand which was severly disformed and I got sentimental and gave him some spara change (a few bucks), which considering I'm a student still hurts my tight budget a bit. Anyhow I felt good giving him the money, because I thought it might help him if even just a bit. Turns out he got arrested for being a scammer the next day, I recognized his face in the local news article. The takeaway lesson from that was that if I were ever in a position to help people out, I'd do so only through legal chanells and organizations that have proved themselves to actually give something meanigful for the people in need.

  • by hackermailman on 4/22/2018, 5:55 PM

    I did something like this for 2 years using MTN as well to pay a farmer family in rural Uganda every month but I had met them first through a friend, wouldn't trust Olx and other sites though a few times I sent money randomly that way. It was literally spare bitcoin change I had in various wallets that inflated to a ridiculous price and I exchanged them directly to mobile money, then transferred it for 24mos.

    As other posts point out, it is a risk to flood a foreign market with capital though, you could help one family but screw over people you don't know about who's income ceases because you interfered and your patronage displaced their daily hustle somehow. When I discovered another large bounty of old coins I was hesitant to try this again since I know jack about the local economy. Paying for education seems a better plan, through somebody you know to take a pro makeup/hair course or some other trade. Pro training they can then start their own small business and train an assistant, there's no work in any of these countries like Uganda.

    Edit, there's a Gambian newspaper where people can go to their office and request help that's published. Better than random CL/Olx giving http://foroyaa.gm/category/those-who-need-help/

  • by niko001 on 4/21/2018, 2:02 PM

    That's really interesting! I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

    1) How do you make sure you're not getting scammed? I mean you probably can't really get scammed in the literal sense, because you'd still be helping out a poor person somewhere (just maybe a 20-something year old guy in Nigeria rather than a single mom in Kenya).

    2) Was it difficult to sign up for M-Pesa (and top it up with credit) given that you're not in Africa?

    3) Why did you decide to give directly, rather than support, say, a charity that builds schools for girls in Kenya? A friend of mine is paying the college tuition for a student in Nigeria (wired directly to the University), which I think is great, as the recipient is less likely to see it as a 'handout', but rather as an investment into their future.

  • by iends on 4/22/2018, 1:44 PM

    You should read the book “When Helping Hurts” to get a better idea of the harm you can cause by just giving poor people money without addressing root causes and more systematic issues.

    In fact, I will buy you a copy if you are interested.

  • by cuchoi on 4/21/2018, 8:49 PM

    What's the problem with GiveDirectly.org? How likely is that the poorest have internet access?