I won't get used to this.

She kissed my hand for 1 birr. “Egzabiher yabarkot” I said quietly as I tucked the bill into her fingerless hand- “God bless you”. She held onto me then and kissed my hand repeatedly as if I'd given her a great gift. And now I wish I had. One stupid, tiny birr. I'm shaken. How poor and broken does one have to be, to feel so blessed by one birr? One birr equals 5 American cents. She is wrapped in the traditional gauzy white clothes of the Ethiopian culture. One hand with no fingers at all; all eaten by leprosy. Her tiny eyes sunken in a wrinkled face. She sits on the ground with a piece of paper in front of her; a rock at each corner keeps it from blowing away. On the paper are coins placed by the passersby who have pity. This is where she has landed. At the end of her life, this is how she spends her time.  Sitting in the dirt, begging for her next meal.