It's strange because peace corps has made me both more and less materialistic at the same time. I see people who literally have nothing. Their children have no shoes and walk around in shredded clothing that are so threadbare they can hardly be called clothes. They also can’t afford a uniform or pay school fees to go to school and end up being uneducated and exactly where their parents are; Poor and destitute. It makes me feel selfish and rich with all the varieties of food in my cupboard. My stipend amounts to about $190 a month which seems like nothing compared to what I would make as a nurse in America. However, in Kenya, a man can work as a night guard and be paid approximately $20 a month and has to make that stretch to feed his 6 children at home. I don’t even want to guess what the farmers in my village take home each month when they are selling me avocados for 5 cents each and a bag of tomatoes for 20 cents.
On the other side of things I appreciate material things more than I ever did back at home. Things like a nice shower, candy, starbucks coffee, cheese, new clothes, a nice phone, etc. I count down the days until I get paid again so I can buy myself little luxuries or to take a little trip out of my village. I find myself living for those little luxuries. I guess it’s the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side, or you always want what you can’t have. I go weeks without cheese in my village (because I don’t have electricity to support a fridge, AND there is no cheese for at least 40 miles). When I finally see cheese, I don’t even think twice about spending $3-5 on a block of it (an unimaginable expense for rural villagers). How is it that amidst some of the most tragic poverty I have ever experienced, I am still craving an eggnog latte and would gladly pay any amount of money to get one?
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