to send money to a Moroccan taxi driver

[Autumnterm]

Back in 2018 I went to Marrakech on holiday with my son. I can’t remember exactly how but I ended up getting the phone number of a friendly local taxi driver who took us from A to B several times. When we went back the following year we used him for our airport transfers both ways.

Since Feb 2020 we haven’t travelled abroad anywhere but I would occasionally get a text from him saying hello or how are you, to which I would respond hello/salaam/labas and that was that. I didn’t think much about it except that he was checking in just in case I was headed to Morocco and was tempted to use another taxi driver....and I did at one point recommend him to a relative going there but their trip was recently cancelled due to COVID.

Anyway cut forward to this week. He texted again and said hello my dear friend how are you and your family, and I responded as usual.

But this time he went on to say that life is hard for him, he has had no work due to the collapse in tourism and as a result he cannot pay for his kids to go to school. He sent me a picture of them - a boy and a girl, they look to be about 3 and 5 years old so I presume he means nursery school.

Stupidly (maybe) I asked how much was school and he said €90.

He has since sent me several texts asking if i will help pay for his kids to go to school. His English is not perfect but it sounds like he wants €30 a month for three months and he says in return if/when we go back he will drive us anywhere we want.

On one hand I know that Marrakech is one of the scam cities of the universe (lots of the people who run investment scams targeting UK pensioners are actually based there). I have no way of knowing if the kids in the photo he has sent me are really his and if there really is a charge to go to school and if he really has no work.

On the other hand €30 is affordable for me and I genuinely do feel sorry for people who rely on tourist revenue who have had a very hard time of it over the last two years. Morocco is open for tourists now but it was locked down for the whole 2020 season and some of 2021.

Would I BU to send him some €?

Firstly, the OP states the €90 is for 3 months.

Secondly, it is entirely conceivable that someone who was able to pay his own way before Covid, and indeed for most of the pandemic, will be able to do so again now that his livelihood is no longer so severely impacted.

Thirdly, the OP has suggested that the eldest will be old enough to attend the free government run schools in September, which would obviously halve the costs.

It is plainly apparent that the OP posted in good faith, seeking advice.

When posters (incorrectly) asserted that schools were free, she put that to the taxi driver - then read up on the topic herself (including via information supplied to her in this thread).

When posters suggested that she checked the school’s website, she asked the taxi driver for that info. When he explained there wasn’t one, she listened to posters on the thread with relevant knowledge.

If the OP wanted to virtue signal (and OP - this isn’t meant as a criticism) then I don’t think she did the best job by presenting herself as sufficiently skeptical that she felt it necessary to go back to the guy, on more than one occasion, with obvious concerns.

I think the ‘smiling faces’ comment was at least, in part, prompted by the barrage of insults and nastiness the OP received from some in the thread.

I agree @Ratrick

it’s a month on, and he hasn’t asked for €500, or anything more.

he did however send me a voice note the other day to say he’s hoping I have recovered from COVID.