$krilla.

I live in a very strange nether world revolving around money. Here's why:

I work for a non-profit that cares for orphans and vulnerable families. We run schools in Kenya. We run transitional housing for kids about to age out of government orphanages. We send single moms to college who were previously homeless. We just sent our 2 millionth pair of shoes to orhpans.

So I work with the very poorest people there are. They're desperate. As in, don't eat everyday, that kind of desperate. As in, they're in orphanages because their parents gave them away due to extreme poverty. As in, receiving a new pair of shoes is the greatest day of their life. A few times a year I get to visit them on trips with donors, and almost every other day I am reading their stories in reports from our field staff, or on our website, or on the news.

Then I work with rich people. Really, really, super rich people. Lots of them are very nice. Lots of them are very loving, and generous, and they give away more to charity in a year than my husband and I make combined. I am writing them thank-you notes, and grant proposals, and planning events and trips so they can learn about or even meet those other people, the ones with no shoes.

And its just all about money, all the time. How far behind budget are we? How much should we ask for? How much did they give to that other charity/university/hospital, so maybe they have a little for our orphans, too? What does it cost to expand X program to include X more kids?

Lots of times, I wish I was the one holding babies, while somebody else scrounged up the money.