Emaciated Children Partying

(Sorry for the 1 day late posting. Today was Joanna's first day with students so she got first dibs on computer usage yesterday. Stupid elementary school...)

(Still having issues with adding pictures. This post, I could only add one picture, though I had one more. Anyone know what might be going on here?)

I started work yesterday at the Physical Plant (code name for: Custodian Worker Center) on campus and have been learning how to use the carpet cleaner and floor buffer. I've almost learned how to keep from putting holes in the walls with the buffer. (If you've never used one, the bottom circulates, so you have to control the direction by lifting up or pushing down- opposite than normal directional machines where you turn left or right.)

I've been lucky to work with a man named Emmanuel who is from Kaduna, Nigeria (which is in the continent of Africa, on the planet Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy, etc, etc....). He has already earned a Christian Leadership degree and is working on his Doctor of Ministry currently. He's been patient and I can honestly say, taught me everything I know about custodian work in the guy's dormitories. We had an interesting conversation yesterday that really got me to thinking.

I mentioned to Emmanuel and another girl at the Physical Plant that my wife and are really lucky because I have a few scholarships, good jobs, and I don't think we'll have to take out a loan, but we'll be on a tight budget.

Emmanuel went into a lengthy diatribe about how most people, especially in America, think that a tight budget means you can only rent one movie or go out to eat twice a week instead of their normal amount (busted). He reminded me that most people in other countries really have tight budgets. In Kaduna, only the most well to do families have even one car, and that takes them over 45 years to buy. Emmanuel ended by saying basically all he needed was food, shelter, and clothing- and everything else was just unneeded. (He did say he would watch tv sometimes to find out the news. Talkin' being wasteful- he just lost 30 minutes of his time to watch news? OK, all you CNN, FOX NEWS, and MSN junkies start berating me...)

So, maybe I'm not on a tight budget after all. It's just less loose than it previously was. And maybe I should start seeing my economic situation in light of the whole world rather than Southeastern US (actually, I could just be honest and say my worldview really is the neighborhood I live in). Maybe that would pierce my heart more to be tithing more, to be giving more, to be sacrificing more, to be wasting less more.

A little cynicism to finish out my thoughts for today. I also heard on the radio a few weeks ago a person talking about kids wasting food and the typical parent response: "Don't waste your food, Johnny, there's starving kids in Africa!" His response? "So, you're telling me that when I eat my potatoes and scrape my plate, that little emaciated children in Africa are having a party and thanking God that I didn't waste any food?"

Eat well (see picture of kids partying in the other post from today (8/15/06)!