When Every Cedi Counts

I remember talking to @bipolar95 sometime ago about money, and she told me something that got us laughing for a moment. Her definition for being broke was my definition for poverty. Oh, not just poverty but abject poverty.

Honestly, I don’t even blame her for thinking like that because I used to think like that too. But it changed in my very first year at the university. My roommate used to call her dad for money anytime she had 100 cedis on her.

According to what she told me, her dad actually asked her to notify him anytime her money was going below 100 cedis. And there I was, only calling home when I was about to die because that was what I thought being broke meant.

Funnily enough, each and every time I called my parents to ask for money and they found out I was calling because I had no money or food, they would get so angry and scold me. But I didn’t get the point; I thought it was just one of those things where parents just want to be parents and scold you for things like using your phone and watching TV. You know? The usual.

But one particular day, I fell really ill, and I didn’t have any money on me. I also didn't call my parents because I thought I could take care of myself until it got worse. I remember not being able to sleep the whole night and thinking I was going to die even before morning came. Eventually, I found myself at a private hospital because of the severity of the symptoms and how fast I wanted to be attended to.

In that moment, nobody even asked me to call my parents. I found myself calling my mom and crying over the phone because of the pain I was going through, and this time, she didn't even scold me. She was just sad and also made me realize the illness wouldn't have gotten that far if I had money to go to the hospital.

My dad in particular made me aware of the kind of heart attacks I was giving him just by waiting until I didn’t have any money before calling. So from that day, I came to understand that being broke doesn’t mean not having enough money to afford basic things but rather not being able to spend a particular amount because it would make you penniless.

Or should I say more like the level you get before becoming penniless? Exactly! There’s a particular level you reach where you know after spending the money you have, unless God sends a dove to bring you food or just rains manna from Heaven. And that level, my dear friends, is what I call broke.