Thursday, October 2, 2008

Conversations with Mom

Hey Mom,
I was re-thinking about what we were talking to Luz (my grandfather's caregiver) about today. She said that the average housekeeper made about 2,000pesos a day (Luz' family is from the Philippines) with the exchange rate of 46 pesos/1 us dollar. The basic math is that that same person is expected to live off less than $1.50 a day when a hamburger costs $1 and a poud of meat about $4-5. The next thought I had was that a person who made even 10 times that would still be living off less than $15 a day. This hardly pays for food and shelter (if you're creative) let alone healthcare, insurance, children, education etc.
It really made me think because I have budgeted for myself $100 a week for food and extras. That's something like $15 a day. Now, granted, I spend $5-7 on a burger here so there is some inflation but it really helps me keep things in check especially when I have gas, utilities, a spacious and comfortable home with running-heated water and electricity. This is the kind of stuff that reminds me how much I have, above and beyond. Why I'm in seminary. And that the world I know is such a small fraction of what everyone else sees/knows.
I don't know if you ran the numbers through your head again, but I thought you would be interested to know.


love you!

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