Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 15: "Navigating life in our Homeland"

A wonderful week to you all my friends. Trust we are all doing good.

The contest hosted by @steem4nigeria is a timely one considering the situation now for many people irrespective of the country they live. The cost of living is very expensive making it difficult to even eat 3 times in a day. Same is true of the standard of living in most countries. So this contest will help us to know what our fellow steemians are passing through in their various countries.

The topic of the contest is Navigating life in our Homeland.

The situation in the country is really pitiable. It has not been easy economically, financial and socially.

The cost of living in my country is on the rise every day. It looks as if the economic policies are not working. It seems as if the country is in a state of instability. So many bills to pay with an empty pocket.

This tells you the financial condition of most people. Majority are living from hand to mouth, just struggling to get one meal per day. Many live on less than $1 a day and are unable to go for a good medical treatment due to high medical bills.

So generally all these components of the society are on a low ebb.

I can vividly remember so many years back when I would use 1 naira and buy about 25kg of garri. But today 1 naira is not even being used to buy anything, it is as if it does not exist.
That quantity of garri now will cost about 7000 naira now. We can imagine the rate of inflation from the 1980s to today.

It is difficult to even feed a family of five. We are facing shortage of food. Many go to bed hungry while many do not have a place to lay their heads. They just roam the streets.

Petrol(fuel) which is a major determinant of prices of foods and services increased in price by times 2. This also led to doubling of prices by almost everything including transportation. House rents have doubled since the cost of building materials have skyrocketed.
Salaried workers are unable to meetup with their financial obligations since inflation is very high and no commensurate pay was added to their salary to help take care of the inflation.

If I continue to write about the present condition, it will take more than this contest.

It has not been easy trying to make ends meet. I have had several challenges in the course of taking care of the family.

Remember, that family in my country includes even some members of the extended family like your parents.

Having lost my job at the eve of the covid-19 lock down, it was really difficult to take care of the family. Steemit was also helpful and of great assistance then but was never enough. That was why when I had to pay for an eye surgery for my mum, I totally powered down, to be able to pay her medical bills.

Since then I have been hustling and engaging in so many things both online and offline to ensure the family is taken care of.

A lesson in how to deal with hardship is not funny. However, there is always a positive aspect to any bad situation. It helps you to develop behavioural traits which you may not have.

For example you learn a lesson in Management. You do not need to go to school to learn management, because if you do not apply that you will be on the road begging.

Another lesson is that of adjusting to present circumstances. The economic situation has made it that everyone continues to adjust to changing circumstances even when there is no improvement financially.

Patience is another virtue you learn from the situation in my country. If you don't, there is every possibility the person will die off due to heart related problems.

Another lesson is to think fast and work smart. Working smart in this case does not imply engaging in illegal means of making money, rather applying that notion in legal ways to earn.

It is not easy living in my area. That is why we see many people seeking for greener pastures abroad. The difference being the huge gap in exchange rates and infrastructural development in those countries and their value for human lives.

However, we will continue to struggle knowing that the Almighty will bless our hustles.

I invite @mjerry, @ruthjoe and @chiomzy810 to join in this contest.