On the Flip Side

After I wrote about all the “hardships” of adventuring in the jungle, I started reflecting on the true harsh realities of this place where I live…

• · Saturday, I bought an outfit for $22. Not bad for some authentic Indian apparel, huh? But I just did the math, and the reality is that, to the Indian consumer, that outfit cost the equivalent of $137.50. Were I an Indian, living in a country where the majority live on $1-2/day, I never would have been able to buy that very same outfit.
• · The other day, the girls caught a glimpse of my permanent retainer and asked me what it was for…as I looked back at their crooked grins I felt so foolish telling them that the piece of metal that costs more than they will ever make in a year is to keep my teeth from moving apart [even though I am oh-so-thankful for it…contextually it seems so superfluous].
• · These girls wake up at 5am. They do chores, study, do yoga, serve breakfast, and go to school. They come home, go to English class, go to computer class, study, serve dinner, and go to bed. But they never ever let me go behind them in the supper line.
• · And…one [or more] of them is fighting AIDS. But it is a secret, because if the others find out she will be shunned.

Yes, we have plenty to be thankful for. And plenty to think about…because with great privilege comes great responsibility [borrowed and morphed that quote from Spiderman; thank you Uncle Ben]. More about that later, I’m sure.

A Housewarming Party

Today I walked down the road to go to a colleague’s housewarming party. He is getting married in November and he and his fiancé just bought a house. Although they haven’t moved in yet and it is barren of any furniture at all, they invited us over to warm their new home. It is the spacious 2^nd floor of a newly-constructed, brightly-colored house, an apartment that costs 3,500 rupies a month. In dollars? About $70. Two bedrooms (one is a really cool tower room that is shaped like an octagon and has lots of windows), a living room and a kitchen. Cheap for you or me. But to an Indian? The equivalent of about $437 (For you economists, that’s looking through the lens of purchasing power parity).

Now this housewarming party was unlike any that I have ever been to. We came, greeted the new owners, walked through all of the rooms, and then sat down in the living room (correction to the earlier furniture comment: there was a futon-type sofa and a few chairs set up in the living room). I sat next to a man who is the pastor of the church, and he stood up and welcomed everyone to their new home. We sang “Give Thanks” (a Calvin Christian School favorite), and read some verses from Psalm 90. The pastor prayed a blessing over their home, that it would be filled with joy and overflowing with grace, and then we prayed the Lord’s prayer and had some snacks and left within 10 minutes. It was definitely different than our housewarming parties, and I was surprised by the presence of the pastor and the prayer. But it was really neat…and hopefully, I will be invited to the wedding in November!