One dollar – Day seven:
On one dollar a day, there is no emergency fund if the storm washes out your crop or carries off your house or even your small piece of land gets washed down the river. It is incredibly hard to save up to buy a cooking stove, never mind a hospital visit or medicine.
In a flash of thought your one dollar makes you ask, “What if I could get a loan to get by or to start a small business?” A $200 loan would start a weaving business. The profits could be used to buy thread and pay for studies. $120 to open a store to make money to fix the house so the water doesn’t come in, maybe to put in a real floor. $200 for an onion farm that could double your income to two dollars a day, if you can wait two months till harvest…and if it survives.
You find the one man you know who has a regular income from cleaning jobs. He is willing to give you a temporary loan. But most of what he makes goes to care for his own family. A small loan will require you to make payments of $7 every two weeks. You think to yourself, $7 is a week’s wages, sometimes more!
You go to the bank. To get a loan requires proof of income, utility bills for three months, and proof of steady income. But documentation isn’t provided for one dollar a day workers, you can’t afford utilities, and there is no guaranteed work. You find another bank is more willing to work with you. But you have to commit to a long-term savings account and you need every penny to survive. You discover a local church ministry provides small micro loans, but even at no interest you have to be reliable to repay the loan over time. You look at your one dollar and think, maybe this is my opportunity for my family to escape poverty.
Looking at your one dollar in the evening, you see your children studying by candlelight. They are so eager to learn! You’re trying to choose between keeping them in school or feeding them. It is your lot in life that holds them back; it is NOT who they are!
What opportunity do YOU see when you look at YOUR one dollar?