I was recently introduced to a new website called “Dollar Street”. The first time I visited it, I was on the site for almost an hour. The website is a collection of families all over the world with different incomes. The objective of this is to show what it’s really like in various countries we so commonly stereotype.
There is a “street” organized by monthly income that you can explore, with the left end being the lowest and the right the highest. The house icons placed on the “street” each represent a household in that country. It gives you a better understanding of what life is like in countries other than your own and what life is like in families with different earnings than you. It opens your eyes to the reality that is the world.
In each family’s file, there are pictures of things such as kitchen, bed, toothbrush, toys, etc. Every family has pictures taken of all those things to demonstrate the difference. You get to see how families and household items diverse throughout the world. Here is a TED Talks video introducing Dollar Street.
Before making prejudicial comments about other countries, take a minute to actually see it. You’ll never know what it’s like to grow up in a place unlike your current one, but let dollar street provide a little insight. Even if you might think you’re lower (poorer) on the “street” compared to some of those around you, compared to the rest of world, you’d find yourself much higher.
Let this be a lesson to you. I suggest you take a look at it. https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix
