Until very recently, Japan was the second largest economy in the world. In 2009, its Gross National Income was $4 trillion. (China had double that amount and was only that amount away from passing the US's GNI). Despite its long decline (Japan's peak was the 80s) and this recent natural disaster, Japan is still a very rich country. (China has over a billion more people than Japan but only double the purchasing power.) With all this mind, it's heartening to learn that some poor countries in Africa have donated their "little ka pennies" to the distressed citizens of this very rich nation. Gabon, for example, went downtown and gave Japan a stunning $1 million USD. Botswana did the best it could with $1 million pula (1 pula = 0.1521 USD—"pula" means "rain"). Finally, sun-scorched Sudan donated $100,000 USD. In each of these cases, it's not the money that matters, but the show of humanity and our global interconnectedness.