Thanks for the tip. I don't really have spare money. It's just that, since I fucked off from my horrible family, there's only me and my young adult kids, and because we couldn't get together due to Covid we agreed to donate our Christmas present money.
Although one of these, the African lad, I send a small monthly amount to. He's a great lad and circumstances are dire. I'm going to look for a few people who can give at least $5 per month for the coming year, to help him finish his engineering degree. And the two I know are talented guys in shit cirumstances, I send them a little when I can.
I lucked into an affordable housing circumstance a little while ago, and now my kids are both earning—though still studying—but they've lucked into decent housing as well. So the past year the financial pressure has really eased up and I can afford to send 20 here, 50 there, on occasion. And I don't have to spend a fortune on my very large ex-family anymore thank christ.
It's extraordinary the difference affordable housing makes to your life. I lost my home when I couldn't keep paying the mortage after my youngest got bone cancer, and my father and step-mother sold my house to themselves at a loss to me. We were homeless for 2 years, evicted from an [unaffordable) rental on the day my kid got out of hospital after his last chemo treatment. The landlords knew this, said to me to stop mentioning my kid's cancer as this was "a purely financial matter". They got the eviction through by lying, told the Tribunal they were moving back into the home themselves. Which they did. For five weeks. They did some cosmetic renovations and took full advantage of the repairs and improvements a handyman friend of mine had done to help when the cancer hit, $1000 of repairs he did for free. Then, after the five weeks, they advertised the place for rent at $575 per week—I'd been paying $450 per week. It wan't legal what they did but I had no real recourse.
So, 2 years of foul motels, couchsurfing, and living in my car till that was repossessed,,, all with 2 school age children one who was recovering from 10 months of operations and chemo and was in danger of never getting out of the wheelchair.
I don't know why I'm telling you all this, Except that I am incoherent due to a few days of insomnia,, lol, and... well. What I learnt from all that was what it was like to be desparate, abandoned by your family, and not knowing how you were going to feed the kids.
From my upper middle class background, I had very unrealistic ideas abot what support is available for the poor. I thought there were safety nets. But they have all been destroyed by neoliberalism and the welfare in my country and "support services" have become wickedly punitive. Their main role now is to strip the needy of dignity.
I learnt that the hard way.
So now I just feel the need to help where I can. I know that feeling, the waking up nauseous with the worry of how you're going to feed the kids today and where you will sleep tonight. I just want to take that feeling away from someone else, even if it's just for a couple of days, because I know the relief of having a couple of days free of that fear.
I really think it's only when you've seen your kids go hungry that you can ever fully understand how much even a little can mean, and how easy it is for a bit of bad luck, your own naïvety and a handful of assholes to put you into that hell.
Politicians should be made to exist on the same income as welfare recipients. See how fast the safety nets get restored then!