Living Under a Dollar

Thanks to Rod Russell for these photos and writing, my tablet is down and hope to have it fixed and be back shortly.  LeeRay
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A dollar isn't worth much these days... in America... but in Zambia they have a saying "Living Under A Dollar" meaning that if you can make a dollar a day, you can eat. A streetwise friend in Lusaka explained that people work all day to try and make enough money to buy a little cooking oil, a bit of cornbread and vegetable to feed their family. I was reminded of that when I saw these children returning home with about a half cup of vegetable oil. We take so much for granted.... when so many people in this world are just trying to get fed today, and without knowing when or if they will eat again. None of these children had shoes, although the little girl is carrying a pair of slippers about 5 sizes to big for her, probably to keep from getting them muddy.

The average income in Zambia is $2.00 US per day. For our workers, it's almost $8.00 per day. $260.00 a month. And they are very happy to have jobs, new boots, and uniforms.

There is no welfare here, there are mobs of people asking us for jobs everywhere i go, if you don't work, you dont eat. Today I paid a family $30.00 US to pound a pile of rocks into aggregate to use in our concrete forms... probably more money than they have seen in a year. Every where you go there are family's, and sometimes children as young as 2 yrs old, pounding rocks by hand to sell as gravel. Its something they can do with no expenditure, they dig the rock out of the ground, pile it up, then pound it into small gravel which they pile up by the side of the road and sell for money to buy food.

Count your blessings....
Post by Rod Russell