Hello dears, I need your opinion regarding my engagement with this family. He is my maternal uncle, very much close to my mom and the only living sibling she has for now. But, their relationship isn't pure just like mine with my siblings. They always had this sibling revelry, and on and off relationship from the beginning. He married twice. Divorced his first wife 6 months post marriage due to suspicion issues over the lady's past love affair. He could not accept this when he learnt the news after marriage. He didn't want to forgive her for not sharing this news earlier, and decided to end his marriage for that matter. The lady later committed suicide, and we all think this divorce was the reason behind. Instead of feeling guilty, my uncle felt relieved sating the girl committed suicide due to infidelity and spread negativity around her death. This happened during early 80s, so you can imagine the mindset of the people in our country that time. Fast forward: He got married for the second time after a decade to a lady thinking she must be the most faithful wife on earth. Because the lady was very shy type and that's what he loved about her during the marriage talks. Later, we all found out that this woman had a mental condition that prevented her from being like anybody else. She would act weird due to her illness, make very foolish decisions, act innocent, and sometimes stop eating and what not. But she was/is a patient who requires constant treatment to be normal. Despite of treatment, my uncle's family life was hit hard due to his wife's condition. He was forced to raise his 2 male kids, which made him over protective of them from childhood. The kids had social issues, but his over protectiveness made it worse. He was a school principal, and ensured his children got the best in school, be it friendship or places in sports or events, else the teachers and other kids get punished. So the kids never learned a thing about hard work. They got easy marks and easy spots in competition throughout in their school times. But when it comes to college, despite of being selected with merit marks, they could not join college due to their anti social and over privileged nature. He even tried using his reputation and influence to mitigate their issues at college, but it didn't workout. So both these boys are college drop outs now. The elder one is in his early 30s, while the younger one is in his late 20s. Both unemployed till early this year despite the family struggled so much financially to meet their basic needs. Uncle is in his 70s, and still working in private institutions, and managing household together with his pension. He forces his wife's relatives in abroad to help him because he thinks it was their fault to hide her mental condition before marriage. Anyways, they help them considerably and are ready to sponsor the boys to come, study or work in abroad. But the family rejected this offer, citing they boys can't go unless if everyone is going together. Coming to the problem: I have been helping this family since a long time, because this uncle has always been nice to me. Helped me when he was doing well etc. But I want them to be self sustainable or enjoying the fruit of my help in better ways, rather than using the money on some foolish things, and then suffer to meet basic needs the entire month. With lots of counselling, I managed to send the older boy to work. A temporary job though, but he is earning some 40K, and is enjoying his work now. He has even learnt to ride a bike and make friends and going out. Now he wants to settle in life, so asking his dad to look for a bride. He is trying to be smart hence looking for a working girl. But none of the working girl would be ready to marry someone with a 40K salary (40,000 LKR) in Sri lanka. The other boy has no interest to work, but demand his dad a lot of money for higher studies etc to show the world that he is doing something. After all the courses he aspires to complete virtually (because he is anti social) he aspires to work in a top notch company, but I highly doubt this. I want him to start working now, no matter how small the position may be.. he can still contribute to the family and get some outdoor experiences that are very much needed for work and his personal life. But he is stubborn and uncle is afraid what if he takes extreme decision if we push him further. The boy is living in his comfort zone, and not bothered about his dad at all. Now that, I heard from my mom that uncle and aunt only eat once or twice a day, and live with bare minimum as they can't handle the monthly expenses anymore. Uncle is dying to get the older son married, so that at least someone is settled before his life ends. He is going crazy, and pleading families to marry his son it seems. I can help more, but to what extend? Even if I give 50K more every month, he would give the money to his sons, especially to the younger one who would register to some courses or exams virtually, and end up doing or not doing the course depending on his comfort level. But uncle thinks this is the only way to make his son settle later in life, and does everything possible he could. Any suggestions?
When I was concerned that the money might be misused, I found a way to pay directly for what I wanted to support. However, don't expect them to be appreciative — they will likely be displeased. But you'll feel better knowing you helped them.