u/Anonymous0212

On Friday they’re driving back to his village to surprise his mother with the car and my daughter, because mom knew nothing about the plan to buy the car and she and my daughter haven’t met yet.

Having this vehicle is really going to change all of their lives, as his income will really help my daughter and him in their life together, and even if he can only afford to give his mother $25 a month, for someone in a very poor Maasai village that amount will dramatically raise her standard of living. (He’s lived in an apartment in a town some hours away for some years now, but well-paying jobs are almost impossible for Maasai due to corruption, nepotism and tribalism, and he was never going to be able to afford such a vehicle on his own, let alone the two cows he needs for the down payment of the bride price when they get married next year! 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Edited: I left out the terms! The repayment terms that we set up are that he’ll make monthly payments to the education fund I set up for the children in her [extended] family for a period of 10 years, which will cover the majority of their direct academic and indirect related out-of-pocket expenses. At some point the older children will hopefully graduate from university and will be able to get good enough jobs that they’ll be able to help the younger ones who are still coming up, and I know that my daughter and her and husband will do everything they can to help them.

I’m glad this was thought of, because last year, by calling virtually everyone in my mother’s address book I raised enough money to cover all of the academic fees for almost two years for the children who are not already on scholarship, plus all of the out-of-pocket expenses for all of the students. But as of now we don’t have enough money to send any of them back next year and I’m worried about where the money will come from for that, other than the little bit he would have repaid by then.