A few figures for thought...
Total number of kids at the orphanage: ~160
Number of diapers used per month: ~18,000
Monthly food bill (for kids, nannies, staff, volunteers): ~30,000$
Monthly rent bill: ~40,000$
Haiti's population: 9,035,536 (2009 est.)
Population density: 328 people per square km
Literacy rate: 62.1%
GDP per capita ($ USD): 698.70$ (2007)
Population living under the poverty line (<2$/day): 80%
Population living under the abject poverty line (<1$/day): 54%
It would have been hard to understand how expensive it can be to live down here before arriving; in most third world countries, the cost of living is quite low. I remember thinking when I was in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) that I could live there quite comfortably, in a nice guest house and eating good food, for only about 15 US$ a day; not bad! But here, since almost everyone is so poor, the infrastructure necessary to make even basic utilities like running water and electricity affordable just isn't there. And so we need to ship water up by the truckload and use generators for electricity, neither of which are particularly efficient or cheap ways of securing access to those basic needs, but necessary nonetheless. And 'luxury' items like baby formula and medicines are expensive to import. Just about the only thing that's cheap is manpower... Well that and street food. Mmm.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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