I've been reading Ben De Vries' update on Facebook and the conversation following it (posted on his timeline on May 5th at approximately 8am GMT) - and found it very enlightening. It started as a comparison of costs of living in USA and Greece, then went into other realities, and explored myths such as "everyone in the USA is rich".
Truth is more complex than soundbites and headlines. Real comparisons are very hard to make.
The conversation reminded me of how I found it hard to explain to people in rural Nigeria that I couldn't afford to be there, away from work, for long. They'd point out that my daily living expenses in rural Nigeria weren't very high, so they'd assume I could easily choose to stay longer. They found it hard to understand that I needed to go back home to earn some money before long, because most of my regular bills in UK were as high while I was in Nigeria as when I was at home (rent, council tax, water rates, internet connection, insurance, etc).
Things are so different. When I'd tell people in rural Nigeria that some of my friends at home thought Africa was mostly made up of starving children, conflict, corruption and big game parks they'd say something like "But Pam - you know that's not true!" and I'd agree. (Yes, there is hunger and poverty and terrible things, but it's "not that simple"). I'd point out that my UK friends only "knew" about Africa from stories on TV etc.
Then I'd point out that perhaps my Nigerian contacts thought my life in UK was like the queen, or a football player, or a film star, or some other life-style they "knew" about where money was no problem. Then we'd all laugh and agree that it's easy to get the wrong ideas about the lives of other people. We carry a lot of assumptions with us. Yes - where I live there is glass in the windows, water from the taps, good sanitation, electricity at the flick of a switch, laptops everywhere etc. The streets are paved - but the paving is overlaid not with gold but with discarded chewing gum.
I appreciate that I live here and I enjoy so many benefits - but I have little choice about them (e.g. I can't go to a well instead of paying my water rates, I can't stop paying council tax and do without its benefits etc ). My "discretionary income" is limited. First I must pay my bills. I don't have a car and I don't live in a big compound or have "house girls and boys" to look after me. That is definitely not my life style.
The myth that "everyone in USA and UK is rich" is a dangerous and destructive myth. It can put huge unrealistic pressures on immigrants here if they are expected to have great treasure chests that they can easily dip into to solve the financial problems of a multitude of people back home.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.