My SO has been unemployed for a long time. He lives in Mali which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. It is sooo hard to find a job if you don't have family that owns some sort of business. And the jobs that he has interviewed for pay next-to-nothing. For example, a job as a waiter at a pretty nice restaurant pays only 60 dollars a month. And there is no limit to how much they can make you work. No 40 hour work week. He also interviewed for a security guard job. Full time. 30 dollars a month.
These are normal wages in Mali. It was so eye-opening to live there and find out that these are the wages people live on.

Anyway...last year, he helped out as a translator for a medical mission that happened in a small village south of the capital. He was paid for it and he really enjoyed it so he was hoping to do it again this year but his friend who hooked him up with the job has moved to the US.

Even with all these obstacles, he didn't give up. He drove down to the village and met the doctors. They had already hired a lot of translators but they told him that he could stick around and maybe do a little substitute work. So he's staying down there for the week to help out where he can and possibly make a bit of money.

I asked him last night if he regretted going, if he was disappointed that he didn't get the job. He told me that he didn't regret it at all. That even if he doesn't get paid, he still feels good about coming and helping out where he can. He said that he appreciates what these American doctors are doing for his country, his people and he wants to support them in whatever way he can. And that he knows this experience will be rewarding in other ways and will somehow pay him back down the road, even if it's not monetarily.

I am so proud that even when faced with great struggles and disappointment, he finds the positive in everything and he has faith that the good will come. I love him so much. What an incredible human being.