“And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is also merciful.” Luke 6:33-36

Reading this verse recently really challenged me. Jesus totally calls us out here… It’s not hard to be nice to someone who’s always nice to you. Where is the love in that? Where is the grace in that? But being nice to someone who is continually mean to you–or disingenuous with you–now that’s a totally different story. That takes patience. That takes love. That takes God.

And while we definitely hope that people pay us back for our microloans…we don’t want them to pay us back for our sake. We want them to be able to repay for their sake. Repayment is a sign that their business is growing; it’s a sign that they’re able to manage their cash-flow. Of course, the more capital they pay back, the more we are able to lend out to others, but the most important lessons are those of honoring a commitment and learning to plan for the future.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that bring us the greatest joy.

One such example came when I was at the mall with a friend of mine the week before last. As we were leaving a store, I smiled and nodded to the security guard, saying, ”Hello.” He smiled back at my friend and me and said, “Hi, Sisi. Have a nice day.” I don’t know that I’ve ever been so excited to hear such simple words! The fact that the black African guard called me “sisi” elated my heart and filled me with intense joy. By calling me “sisi,” he instantaneously made me feel welcomed. He made me feel like I belonged. 

Perhaps I should explain…

One thing I deeply admire about African culture is their intrinsic and unrelenting focus on community. Perhaps you’ve heard the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” This is a great example of how they place a significant level of emphasis on people outside their immediate family. Also, their conception of family goes way beyond our Western construct of a “nuclear family.” In fact, some African languages don’t even contain words that are equivalent to our “cousin” or “uncle.” Instead, the languages refer to anyone who we would define as a “cousin” (e.g., your father’s brother’s son) as either “brother” or “sister.” And someone we would define as “uncle” or “aunt” can be referred to as some derivative of your parent (e.g. your dad’s younger brother might be called your “young father”). [Note: This gets extremely complicated if you're trying to figure out how people within a community are actually related!]

This often translates into Africans calling anyone around their same age either “sister” or “brother.” And if there is someone who is the age of your mother, and you don’t know her name, it’s very polite to call her “mama.” And if there is someone who is the age of your grandmother, and you don’t know her name, you can call her “granny” or “gogo” (Zulu for grandmad). Make sense?

Consequently, by calling me “sisi,” the security guard brought me into his community…and I couldn’t have been more excited!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the economic situation in Zimbabwe…it’s bad. Over the past three decades, Zim has gone from one of the most promising countries on the continent, to one of the most pitied in the world. Here’s what I mean:

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)…In the 1980s, Zim experienced 5.0% GDP growth per year. In the 1990s, they experienced 4.3% GDP growth per year. In 2003, they experienced a -18% GDP growth, meaning their GDP significantly declined compared to the previous year.

In 1998, Zim experienced a rate of inflation of 32% (nearly 20 times the U.S. rate of inflation for the same year). In December 2007, the Cato Institute estimated Zim’s rate of inflation was 215,000%. In July 2008 it was at a staggering 250,000,000%. Unfortunately, that’s not a typo. Their rate of inflation was 250 MILLION percent. In real terms, this means that prices of goods (in Zimbabwean dollars) DOUBLED nearly every day. To compensate, a new 100 BILLION dollar note was introduced. Apparently that wasn’t enough, so they introduced a 100 TRILLION dollar note. As of January 2009 they removed 12 zeroes from their currency, meaning what was once worth Z$1,000,000,000,000 is now worth Z$1.

But I’m getting a little carried away… The reason this is relevant is because we have several entrepreneurs who are originally from Zim. The economic and political situations are so bad that millions of Zimbabweans decided to leave everything they had in order to immigrate to other countries in Southern Africa. On the “up-side,” the problems in Zim created an interesting business opportunity. For keen entrepreneurs, the turbulent currency in Zim, combined with a shortage of almost every type of desirable good, meant that exporting South African products to Zim could make for good business. 

One of our entrepreneurs recently seized this opportunity by buying solar-powered batteries here in South Africa and then taking a bus into Zimbabwe to sell his batteries. When I asked the entrepreneur how much he was able to sell the batteries for, he replied that one battery was worth one goat. With such an unreliable currency, many people have reverted back to trading solely in goods (so they don’t have to worry about depreciation). In my naivety, I asked approximately how much one goat was worth. He responded, “…well, it depends on how big the goat is.”

Very valid point.

In case you’re wondering, a goat can range in value from R150-R250 ($20-$32 USD).

An additional consequence of the troubles of the Zimbabwean dollar is that many people choose to use different, more reliable currencies. The most popular are: U.S. Dollar, South African Rand, and the Euro. Interestingly enough, at the Zim border $1 USD can be traded for 10 ZAR (South African Rand). The current market value of $1 USD is actually only approximately 7.5 ZAR. Consequently, it appears our entrepreneur may (unknowingly) be dabbling in a little currency arbitrage : )

“God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.” –C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

A few months ago I read C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I love the way Lewis is able to distill seemingly convoluted theological ideas into easily understood analogies. I really enjoyed the book and found his analysis both refreshing and insightful. The above quote is one that really challenged me. At first it sounded like a bit of an oxymoron, but the more I thought about it…the more it made sense.

God is easy to please. Simple, but well said. God’s greatest desire is to be in relationship with us. Easy enough, right? He delights in the little things we do–in the small ways we earnestly seek Him. He rejoices over every battle won (big or small). He’s cheering us on. He’s in our corner. He wants us to succeed, and He takes great pleasure in every step we take toward Him.

But God is hard to satisfy. Here’s the catch…He created us. He knows our true potential. He knows the possibilities that lay within us, and he’s unwilling to settle or compromise. It’s impossible to say to God, ‘I’m not good enough,’ ‘I’m not strong enough,’ ‘I’m not smart enough,’ ‘I’m not talented enough,’ ‘I’m not bold enough.’ He knows us better than we can ever hope to know ourselves and He can’t be satisfied with anything less than our best.