A couple of weeks back I read an article from a fellow Hive blogger about the impossibility of living on minimum wage in Nigeria.
Well no body can actually be able to survive with the 30k looking at the current prices of goods as I will be posting them that has been the reason so many around here run multiple jobs just to meet up with their financial needs
If you would like to read it here it was written by @monica-ene and here is the link
When I read the article I felt Happy, Sad, and Mad all at the same time.
Happy that I was able to take a look into a Nigerian store and see prices and products.
Sad because I could hear the despair in her words. Her view just made things look so pointless.
Mad because the thought of having to work a full-time job and not even be able to afford to eat is being treated worse than a slave! Even in ancient times slaves were fed! It's being treated worse than a pack animal. At least a working horse gets fed at the end of the day to keep it alive.
I can't imagine the thought "Work hard and we will pay you only enough to die a slow death from starvation"....that's just not right!
That's when I made it my mission to prove that Monica was wrong. It may be virtually impossible to live on 30K Naira monthly. It may take some weird, unconventional, or maybe uncomfortable situations to survive.
BUT
I believe that it is utterly imperative to make sure that there is SOME way to survive on that 30K Naira. If not at least find some way to supplement income to survive.
Why?
Now HOPE is an unbelievably powerful force. First though a quote on what hope is:
Have you ever heard this quote?
"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."
It was written by a gentleman named Desmond Tutu. He's pretty famous so you may have heard of him. However, even if you haven't, Hope is pretty important. The World Bank estimates that there are over 700 Million people living on less than 30K Naira/month. That means 1 person in 10 doesn't have enough money for food just to live ...if Monica is right.
That's not even including all the other problems going on in the world right now: War, Global warming, Inflation, bad government, disease, unrest, etc.
In short there is an awful lot of darkness! Being able to see a light in all that? Super important.
But Why?
I'll give you one quote and I'll point you to one study to answer that question.
FIRST For the quote I couldn't find any specific author but that doesn't diminish its truth
"Hope and despair both lead to the same destination, but only hope makes the journey worthwhile."
To me that simply means : Everyone dies in the end, but with hope at least its a meaningful journey. With despair its an empty one. With hope life is brighter. With hope a person can always dream of a better future...even if it never comes. However with despair there is only a bottomless pit of nothing.
and it shows in the lives of both people and animals.
Which brings me to a study done about the power of hope in rats.
Richter, Curt P. (1957). On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man. Psychosom. Med., 19, 191-8
If you want the exact details of the study you will have to Google it yourself. However here is the quick version.
Domestic rats were put in water and left to drown. The ones who searched the bottom of the tank and found no way out gave up in minutes. The ones who swam could swim for days. Interesting..maybe losing hope caused those first ones to die quickly.
So part two came up: Take wild rats which were mean and tough. Surely they could do better than the tame domestic rats.
Into the water the wild rats went. Within a short period of time all of them sank to the bottom and died. They didn't do nearly as well as the domestic rats.
The researcher postulated that Domestic rats were used to be cared for and thought a helping hand would come. Wild rats fought for everything and knew that no-one was there to help them. Maybe that hope in domestic rats helped them fight longer.
So next batch of rats.
Into the tank they went. However, just before they were going to give up and drown a helping hand picked them out and let them recover a bit. Then the rats were placed back into the water and left. Those rats swam, and swam, and swam. They lasted for days rather than minutes.
WHY
The researcher postulated because the rats had been rescued once and knew it wasn't hopeless. Their hope kept them going far longer than when they had no hope. That may not be true, but I certainly think that it is.
I believe that hope is absolutely essential
I've heard it said once "A man can live for 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, but how long without Hope?" I've heard many stories about couples who live together for many decades of their life only to pass away mere days apart...presumably because of despair.
Or another quote I like
"Without hope, life loses its meaning, and the will to live slowly fades away." - Rollo May
So, I've set my mind to trying to find a way to successfully live on 30K Naira per month. I've set my mind to trying to find ways to life an enjoyable life while actively working towards cleaning up and protecting the environment.
Maybe its not possible....
..... but I certainly HOPE I can find a way
..... and won't give up on that hope until I find it.
Thanks for reading.