This is beautiful. Bravo. You created an opportunity for someone to thrive and grow. There are few higher callings to humanity than that, IMHO.

I also did something sort of similar: I had a close friend in Brazil (former roommate when he eas in the US; self deported) who was going through a very difficult time. As an experiment..I gave him $100/month, no strings attached. Blow it on food and games, rent, whatever he wants.

Tl;dr it went very well, his life significantly improved, I did it because he was my friend, I had the money, and wanted to see what would happen.

We Skyped after his shift ended one night and he was very depressed. With a VPN and a credit card I ordered him Dominos to cheer him up. I sent a feast that.. only cost me $10.[1]

Realizing the exchange rate benefit, I got the idea of giving him $100 each month as an experiment; $500 Brazilian Reals.

I wanted to know if the extra money would help and if I could use the exchange rate to help my friend get to a better place in life. Sort of a UBI but not quite.

Now, $100 to me is a bit of money, but 500 BR to him was a crazy amount of money to be given.

Over six months, it allowed him to quit his job at McDonald's, get out of a financially unstable roommate situation, move closer to his family in his own place, and find a better job. He started dating again.

I told him I would commit to a year, but he actually said at the 6.5 month mark that he's doing so well that I don't have to keep giving him money.

Three years later he's still doing great. I have concluded from this that more money in our pocket always helps, but there is a certain responsibility (maybe in general) needed when a gift like that lands in our laps. It can be easy to blow it [2] but just as easy to use it to move life forward.

It has certainly made me more ..aware/appreciative of my privilege and (sometimes fragile) security.

[1]. Two medium four topping pizzas, two 2-litre bottles of soda, breadsticks, and chicken nuggets.

[2]. I was once given a generous stipend from the Student Government of $140 which I did not use for school supplies, rent, or even groceries. Nope. I bought alcohol.

Universal Basic Income really works, as you've found.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/15/how-likely-universal-basic-i...

Amazing story. And a nice testimony to the asymmetry between earning in one spot and spending in another where a relatively small amount of money can be life changing.

This is a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.