*Please Note : This is a hypothetical narrative. This is a work of fiction written with the intentions of giving the reader the idea of events that could occur.
I am a rice farmer in Sri Lanka. I am fortunate enough to have secured myself a credit card and pay it off monthly. I have two other jobs within the community. I work as a custodian at a childcare facility and share duties as a general laborer at a hospital as well.. For several years my neighbor and I have shared our experiences with investing and have dreamt of more comfortable lifestyles in our home country. My neighbor, puts his money into a saving account at our local bank. He recieves interest on his savings of about 1.2 % APR. With my savings, I purchase Bitcoin and store it in a digital wallet.
We have continued this lifestyle for the last four years. Our families eat together and we talk about work, our government, our community, and our humble farms. After we eat my neighbor and I go outside and share a cigar. This is when we talk about our finances. He hasn't bought in to the idea of Bitcoin. He doesn't understand the concept of digital currency and insists that the money he owns is in the bank ready to be clamied whenever he wants to claim it.
Lately, inflation has gripped our economy and has strangled us. The community I love has found itself in poverty. We continue to work. We work hard! And the return we see on our crops get less and less. Activists within our community have gotten fed up. We embargoed our own goods attempting to outsource our crops to entrepreneurs in America and Honduras.
Our government has gone to war against us. Families have been pulled from their homes. People have been executed in our streets. Bombings have occured in my fellow farmers' houses. My neighbor's house was one of the targets. He was in his fields when it happened but his wife and two children perished in the attack. My neighbor was crushed. On top of it all the bank that housed his savings has shut its doors and his savings are inaccessible.
My family and I fled my home country as refugees in search of a home that wouldn't take from us. My neighbor has come with us as a companion. We were able to settle within America. Although the immigration is illegal, we are prepared to try to adapt to the American lifestyle and contribute to its economy. We want to be American citizens. After we found a cheap place to rent I used my smart phone to make a Cash App account. I was able to move a portion of my Bitcoin saving to my Cash App account, sell it, and add it to my Cash App bank account. Without my Bitcoin savings, I am not sure if I would be here to tell this story. I was even able to give my neighbor a life he doesn't think he would have otherwise.
With the Bitcoin I sold I was given US dollars that I intend to use locally to put back into my new community while I look for a job.
