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The takeaway from this story for me is the amazing loyalty of the family. To turn down scholarships at other 'better' schools and stick with the one that gave

The takeaway from this story for me is the amazing loyalty of the family. To turn down scholarships at other 'better' schools and stick with the one that gave Tani free membership to the chess club and where the teacher that taught him how to play works. Plus the fact that they are donating the entire GoFundMe (which I donated a tiny amount to last week) to helping other kids from Africa to migrate to the US. That is 'paying it forward' in spades.

gothroach 8y ago
That struck me - they're promising to form a small foundation to help other immigrants with the all the cash they're receiving (minus ten percent going to the church that helped them when they were homeless), and have only really accepted material necessities instead. A year paid for in a new apartment, furnishings, books, a car, other necessities that would improve their life by a huge margin. They seem like a family who appreciates hard work, and this way they can become self-sufficient again far easier and without most of the temptations that come with receiving huge lump sumps of money suddenly. I'm happy that people have rallied to help them, and even happier that they're already wanting to help others in their former situation.
joe_the_user 8y ago
Staying close to the kid's current school seems like good sense. They have media attention and donations now but the chances are that will dry up after some fairly short period. Using that money to put themselves in a sustainable position can be better than trying to leverage it into the most prestigious position. There's a long history of child actors, homeless who do heroic deeds and similar media-darlings later being dropped by the media and the public and winding up in terrible situations (especially given that "people are people" and media attention may one minute show a person's awesome side and the next minute show their despicable side).
- shivo 8y ago
  People rarely get these moments when the public is aware and genuinely cares for their needs. I'm certain there are thousands more people with similar backgrounds. Hopefully they make the best of all of the attention for the long term.
aaron695 8y ago
> To turn down scholarships at other 'better' schools and stick with the one that gave Tani free membership to the chess club and where the teacher that taught him how to play works. Reminds me of this joke (I'm sure there's better renditions) https://truthbook.com/stories/funny-god/the-drowning-man https://truthbook.com/stories/funny-god/the-drowning-man

gothroach 8y ago

That struck me - they're promising to form a small foundation to help other immigrants with the all the cash they're receiving (minus ten percent going to the church that helped them when they were homeless), and have only really accepted material necessities instead. A year paid for in a new apartment, furnishings, books, a car, other necessities that would improve their life by a huge margin. They seem like a family who appreciates hard work, and this way they can become self-sufficient again far easier and without most of the temptations that come with receiving huge lump sumps of money suddenly. I'm happy that people have rallied to help them, and even happier that they're already wanting to help others in their former situation.

joe_the_user 8y ago

Staying close to the kid's current school seems like good sense. They have media attention and donations now but the chances are that will dry up after some fairly short period. Using that money to put themselves in a sustainable position can be better than trying to leverage it into the most prestigious position. There's a long history of child actors, homeless who do heroic deeds and similar media-darlings later being dropped by the media and the public and winding up in terrible situations (especially given that "people are people" and media attention may one minute show a person's awesome side and the next minute show their despicable side).

shivo 8y ago
People rarely get these moments when the public is aware and genuinely cares for their needs. I'm certain there are thousands more people with similar backgrounds. Hopefully they make the best of all of the attention for the long term.

aaron695 8y ago

> To turn down scholarships at other 'better' schools and stick with the one that gave Tani free membership to the chess club and where the teacher that taught him how to play works. Reminds me of this joke (I'm sure there's better renditions) https://truthbook.com/stories/funny-god/the-drowning-man https://truthbook.com/stories/funny-god/the-drowning-man