(Not Even) $2
Money intrigues me—how it works, controls, and frees us as individuals.
How often have you heard the phrase, ‘money makes the world go ‘round’? Or have been in some sort of obligation or need of finances in order to do something or go somewhere?
In the village church where we spend most of our days, our pastor recently told Leisa of their future plans for a new church building, one with brick walls instead of wood, one of a wooden roof instead of the current tin roof. Our pastor is ambitious and God-focused in all that he does and I have no doubt that his plans will come to fruition.
The currency in Kenya is the shilling and the current exchange rate is 81 shillings per 1 USD.
After describing his plans, he went on to explain that the average monthly income of his members is 150 shillings.
Can this really be? People living on not even $2 a month?
After the initial surprise of this faded, my thoughts wandered to the differences in cost of living here in Kenya versus the U.S. I went to the grocery store later and priced food. A five pound bag of rice costs 350 shillings, 1 liter of juice costs between 79 and 200 shillings, 1 kilo of apples costs 266 shillings. I realize that many villagers grow their own produce, but still…
…can you imagine living on not even $2 a day, not to mention $2 a month?
I could not even buy half of my favorite soy chai latte at Frothy Monkey© in Nashville or a gallon of gas or a bag of carrots or even toothpaste.
Not just travelling, but LIVING with locals throughout the world this year has been a major eye-opener for me. Post-Race, I had been budget conscious, but now even more so. I do not want to sound obvious in saying this, but already I have seen ways in which I can be more responsible for how and what God provides in my life, even if it is change—which not even $2 seems like, doesn’t it?
