Hello,
I am Steve Xu, and one of my former students from when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer is currently struggling with a life threatening domestic violence situation. I am raising money to relocate her family to safety.
Proof of Peace Corps Service:
The full story behind this is so incredibly inspirational that it could be made into a Netflix documentary, but unfortunately I need to preserve anonymity due to security concerns and can only give a brief summary. If you want the full story, contact me at stevecxu (a't] gmail [d.o,t) com. (e-mail written this way to prevent spam from web crawlers and e-mail extractors)
Several decades ago, the mother of my student got married and was gifted a plot of undeveloped land. The father turned out to be an abusive alcoholic who contributes nothing whatsoever. While Dad is out drinking all day, Mom developed the plot of land. She cleared the bushes, chopped down trees, made her own bricks, and built a house. All completely by herself.
One day, Dad comes home drunk, gets into a fight with Mom, and almost kills her. Fearing the consequences, Dad runs away while leaving Mom to bleed out on the floor, and has not been seen since then.
A few months ago, Dad reappears out of nowhere and demands "his" land and for Mom and the kids to leave. This escalates, with implicit threats from Dad showing up with a group of men with machetes. Due to the Dad's history of violence combined with the fact that Mom's house was burnt down as a warning, these implicit threats are credible and have to be taken very seriously.
It's worth noting that the land legally belongs to Mom, but no one is there to enforce the law in very rural areas. Mom and Family have been "encouraged" to move out by mid May, in around 2 weeks. After some discussion with the family and some NGOs, we believe the best option is to just give them the land -- this isn't a hill worth (literally) dying on.
Our goal is a minimum of $5,000, which will allow Mom and Family to buy a plot of land in a place where there's police presence. The family has around $500 saved, and I'm contributing $1400, so we need to raise an additional minimum of $3100 through crowdfunding.
The total of $5,000 will also cover relocation costs as well as a temporary place to stay while they develop the land, build a house, and so on. Ideally, I'd like to raise a few thousand more than the minimum so they can buy some land that's already developed and has a house -- the family has gone through enough the past few decades, and deserve something nice for a change.
Since it might be interesting for people to see what life is like in rural areas in developing countries, here are some additional pictures. These photos were taken from when I was helping my former student with financial aid documentation for their college applications many years ago, and I highly doubt any identifying information can be gleaned from this. Also, everything probably looks different now after being burnt down and rebuilt.
Charcoal is made by burying wood inside a mound and then lighting it on fire
FAQ:
Have you contacted any organizations that deal with land grabs from vulnerable women?
Yes. But due to the fact that this is in a very rural area with no police presence and the other party is willing to use violence and force, our options are very limited.
This isn't a hill worth dying on, and relocation is also relatively cheap -- 2-3 months of NYC rent is enough to sustain the family for life via agriculture and raising livestock.
Will the family be safe after relocating?
I am reasonably confident they will be. The main problem is the lack of law enforcement in very rural areas, so we are going to have them move closer to a town or city. We are also reasonably sure that the "Dad" only wants the land and will not pursue Mom and Family afterwards.
Have you considered asylum claims?
The process takes too long and is unlikely to be approved. These people are not after the family specifically, they just want the land.
Scams are common in developing countries. What are my reassurances that this isn't a scam?
I can not post updates publicly due to security concerns, but donors are welcome to contact me privately and I will send updates and proof of what the money is being spent on.
Also, if I valued money to the extent where I'd be willing to scam people for it, I probably wouldn't have joined the Peace Corps.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to contact me at stevecxu [a.t) gmail [d,o,t) com. (email written this way to prevent spam from web crawlers and e-mail extractors)
I am Steve Xu, and one of my former students from when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer is currently struggling with a life threatening domestic violence situation. I am raising money to relocate her family to safety.
Proof of Peace Corps Service:
The full story behind this is so incredibly inspirational that it could be made into a Netflix documentary, but unfortunately I need to preserve anonymity due to security concerns and can only give a brief summary. If you want the full story, contact me at stevecxu (a't] gmail [d.o,t) com. (e-mail written this way to prevent spam from web crawlers and e-mail extractors)
Several decades ago, the mother of my student got married and was gifted a plot of undeveloped land. The father turned out to be an abusive alcoholic who contributes nothing whatsoever. While Dad is out drinking all day, Mom developed the plot of land. She cleared the bushes, chopped down trees, made her own bricks, and built a house. All completely by herself.
One day, Dad comes home drunk, gets into a fight with Mom, and almost kills her. Fearing the consequences, Dad runs away while leaving Mom to bleed out on the floor, and has not been seen since then.
A few months ago, Dad reappears out of nowhere and demands "his" land and for Mom and the kids to leave. This escalates, with implicit threats from Dad showing up with a group of men with machetes. Due to the Dad's history of violence combined with the fact that Mom's house was burnt down as a warning, these implicit threats are credible and have to be taken very seriously.
It's worth noting that the land legally belongs to Mom, but no one is there to enforce the law in very rural areas. Mom and Family have been "encouraged" to move out by mid May, in around 2 weeks. After some discussion with the family and some NGOs, we believe the best option is to just give them the land -- this isn't a hill worth (literally) dying on.
Our goal is a minimum of $5,000, which will allow Mom and Family to buy a plot of land in a place where there's police presence. The family has around $500 saved, and I'm contributing $1400, so we need to raise an additional minimum of $3100 through crowdfunding.
The total of $5,000 will also cover relocation costs as well as a temporary place to stay while they develop the land, build a house, and so on. Ideally, I'd like to raise a few thousand more than the minimum so they can buy some land that's already developed and has a house -- the family has gone through enough the past few decades, and deserve something nice for a change.
Since it might be interesting for people to see what life is like in rural areas in developing countries, here are some additional pictures. These photos were taken from when I was helping my former student with financial aid documentation for their college applications many years ago, and I highly doubt any identifying information can be gleaned from this. Also, everything probably looks different now after being burnt down and rebuilt.
Charcoal is made by burying wood inside a mound and then lighting it on fire
FAQ:
Have you contacted any organizations that deal with land grabs from vulnerable women?
Yes. But due to the fact that this is in a very rural area with no police presence and the other party is willing to use violence and force, our options are very limited.
This isn't a hill worth dying on, and relocation is also relatively cheap -- 2-3 months of NYC rent is enough to sustain the family for life via agriculture and raising livestock.
Will the family be safe after relocating?
I am reasonably confident they will be. The main problem is the lack of law enforcement in very rural areas, so we are going to have them move closer to a town or city. We are also reasonably sure that the "Dad" only wants the land and will not pursue Mom and Family afterwards.
Have you considered asylum claims?
The process takes too long and is unlikely to be approved. These people are not after the family specifically, they just want the land.
Scams are common in developing countries. What are my reassurances that this isn't a scam?
I can not post updates publicly due to security concerns, but donors are welcome to contact me privately and I will send updates and proof of what the money is being spent on.
Also, if I valued money to the extent where I'd be willing to scam people for it, I probably wouldn't have joined the Peace Corps.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to contact me at stevecxu [a.t) gmail [d,o,t) com. (email written this way to prevent spam from web crawlers and e-mail extractors)