Friday 23 August 2013

Head scratching time ...

Suppose for a moment that you're the head of a small family living in sub-Saharan Africa. A few months ago you lost your job and there doesn't seem much chance of getting any form of paid work, even though you've tried and tried and tried. You're a single parent mother, with no support from your ex-husband for your two children. An English couple you met, back in the days when you were working, offered to support the education of your daughter (she's your eldest child, a very bright girl.) Someone else helps with the school fees of your boy. Now, as I said, you're out of work. The person who was helping with your son's fees hasn't been in touch for a year or more. Your daughter has finished school and wants to go to college, and has been accepted on the course which will lead to a good qualification. The money for her college fees, quite a lot of money, arrives. There is no food in the house, the rent is greatly overdue and your son cannot complete his education. The bills are mounting up.
 What do you decide to use this gift of money for? It's enough to pay off the rent arrears and to buy food, and perhaps pay your son's fees for another term.
What would you do, and how would you explain your decision to the couple who sent the money for your girl's education? What would you expect the reaction of the sponsors to be?
This is a real situation.

Thanks for reading this.
Tom

No comments: