Living positively

Here I am, entering my 3rd week here in Kenya, That doesn't seem possible to me!  It is amazing to me how comfortable I have become with the things that surround me and the way I am already changing my views.

The biggest thing I have noticed and felt, which I am sure is common, is the way i handle money and financial issues.  The amount people live off in a week, a month, a year, is astounding.  Today I spent 2000KSH($27CAD) on buying some gifts to take home.  Multiple bracelets, four cards, two beaded jewelry holders(i mean entirely beads and wire and beautiful).  That is a lot of money in one transaction.  I find that while doing projects here, I am funding some little things personally and think in my head "Do I pay $150 for this when $150 could provide A, B, and C for a family?"  It makes you reflect on what you spend and use and forget to appreciate at home.  How many have a laptop, smart phone, gaming console, tablet, TV, DVD player.. Here I am visiting homes that are a third the size of my room back home.  I am staying in a three bedroom apartment where someone is cooking my meals and cleaning my laundry.  The home I am staying in would be considered low class or "west side" by looks but it is clean with electricity and hot water to shower and comparatively speaking I am living large here.  Back home I have a family and friends who miss me and care and worry about me and here people are struggling to make even $3 a day. A DAY! not an hour.

I am not sure where I am going with this post but I felt it is important to recognize and honour these people who work so hard, who come to work and to learn every day and greet you with a smile.  Who  sing and laugh and feel honoured that I visit their homes.

Every single day you have money to buy food let alone junk food, coffee, and new clothes just because you WANT them, be thankful and humbled. I know you cannot compare truly our lives back home and here but I know I am painfully aware of the clothes I am wearing, the food I am not finishing(but will be very fat because I am fed so well and so much), and the weak HOT shower I get every morning and bed i have each night.  I am honoured that these people and this community has welcomed and accepted me, every single day.  God bless my Kenyan family.