When ya gotta go . . .

Annie started singing her favorite Christmas song ("When Christmas Comes to Town" from the Polar Express), but it was sped up due to natural causes. She also added some suspicious choreography.

the decision

Yeah, I never planned on giving him money because, quite frankly, even if I really wanted to we couldn't. We just don't have it right now. I had considered trying to find a donor who would sponsor him though.

But I never got a response from the school, which I took as a bad sign. So I wrote him an email with some links I found to Kenyan student loans that are available. I also explained that here in the US we have to get loans to pay for school, and that I'm in fact still paying off loans I got when I was a student.

Deep down, I don't think it's a scam, mostly because the information he sent was from the school and he wanted the money deposited into his school account, not a bank. But given the risk associated with this type of thing, and the fact I don't have that kind of cash-ola. I opted to direct him elsewhere.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you're looking to scam someone, don't pick somebody who has a 1987 ford ranger parked in front of their house.

Hamisi Bakari Mwachizungu

Okay, brace yourself for a long story. When I was about twelve, two of my aunts who are nurses went to Kenya to offer medical assistance there for a few weeks. They took some boxes of toothbrushes and stuff from our beehives class. We included letters with the toothbrushes. Years later (about three years ago). I got a letter from the boy who got mine. I wrote him back, and he wrote me again.

Hamisi is about my age (23), and the oldest in his family of eight children. His dad died when he was a teenager, and he's been the primary provider for his family since. He lives just outside of Mombasa. He sent this picture a few letters ago, well actually it was just a negative that I developed.

I received a letter from him a few days ago, and he got accepted and started classes at the University of Nairobi through their Distance Learning program. He is looking for a sponsor to help him out with his fees that are due soon. He needs 52,000 KSH which amounts to about $700. He sent all the school paperwork, pamphlets, account numbers, etc.

What do I do? I don't even know if I can believe his story, and it's not like we have $700 just lying around. So I've just been trying to put it out of my mind, but then I see the letter and paperwork sitting on the table and I feel so guilty! I find myself thinking, "We don't have tons of money. We can't help him." but then I remember all the things we have like hot water and carpet, and I feel guilty again. Then I worry that if I help him I'll just create a monster, and he'll want money again and again. I just don't know. I'm typically kind of a scrooge, but this has really been haunting me, and I feel like I should do something.

I wrote an email to the school just so I can check his information out, and hopefully I will hear back from them soon. He also included his email address this time, but I can't bring myself to email him until I know what I'm going to do.

Advice please! What would you do in this situation?