When my own sister asked me about my living conditions at the place I have now been living for a year, I realized it was time to write about my living conditions in rural Haiti. This one is for you Julie.
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I just got back from a 4-week trip to The States where I had the chance to see many friends and family. In all of the conversations I had with people, I would have to say the most common question asked was, "What are your living conditions like down there?" While I was slightly tempted not to share this information, knowing it would break some people's image of me living in a dirt-floor hut, I knew it was best to share my reality... and the reality of living conditions for people in Haiti.
As you will see below, I am very fortunate. I live in relatively good conditions. I have running water, electricity, a refrigerator, and a gas stove. All things not commonly found in a home in Haiti.
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| Security gate and wall. Common for big houses in rural areas, necessary in the city. My place is the two story building on the left. *Just like in the states, city life varies greatly from rural life. |
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| When barbed-wire isn't available, you compromise with broken shards of glass. |
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| The entrance to the lower (aka my) apartment. I share it with a doctor and physical therapist (and her baby) working at the hospital - both are native Haitians. ...the baby doesn't yet work at the hospital ;) |
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| Not everything is perfect... currently keeping some things out of my room to work against a mold problem |
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| This one should be self-explanatory. Fortunate to have consistent power to the fan. There is no power in town, ours comes from a generator. |
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| Notice the propane tank for our gas stove... no city gas lines running through the town |
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| One of the few houses in the community with a refrigerator, microwave, and running water in the kitchen... |
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and running water in the bathroom. Note the water-bottle in the corner.
Most people in Haiti do buck showers. I use bottled water to brush my teeth.
The tap water is not safe to drink.
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| Rain water collection and a tank for holding water to pump to the roof.... cold water that is, no hot showers here....not that you need them! When it doesn't rain often enough, we get water brought in by a truck filled manually with 5 gallon buckets from a spring 2 miles away. |
In a nutshell, those are my living conditions. This is what I call home.
And if homes in Haiti were ranked into four tiers, I would say I live in the third tier of housing. It is certainly above normal standards, but is not the nicest place you can find in Haiti. Contrary to popular knowledge, there is money in Haiti. And many people spend it on housing. This can be seen in the example below.
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| What I would consider the upper tier of housing in Haiti |
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| Check it out on AirBnB |
While beautiful, the example above, and the conditions in which I live, are not the norm. More than have the population lives off less than $2.42 per day...59% to be exact (source: World Bank). The average person in Haiti can only dream of living conditions like mine...or most people in The States. For most people in Haiti, they live in something equivalent to what you see below.
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| Common house in rural Haiti. http://media.trb.com/media/photo/2010-11/84956460-18123248.jpg |
The people owning these houses usually have some form of steady income and I would consider the equivalent of America's middle class. Yet, they cook with coal, shower and clean with bucket water fetched by foot, and, depending on where they live, might have electricity.
But there are many people in Haiti who have been born into very unfortunate circumstances and money is extremely hard to come by. Daily life is a grind. These are the people living in what I would consider the lowest tier of housing in Haiti. Just like above, there is no running water, no electricity, no cooking gas...no refrigerator. But now, an outhouse serves as their toilet and even the structure of the house itself is questionable. It is sure to come down in the hurricanes that frequent the region. These people are the poorest of the poor.
Only 28 % of the population has access to improved sanitation, aka a flushing toilet.
Only 58 % of the population has access to an improved water source, aka a piped water source, not necessarily piped into their house. (Source: CIA World Factbook)
These people are the reason I am grateful to have running water, electricity, a refrigerator, a toilet, a gas stove. These people are the reason I consider myself fortunate.
Thanks Julie for pushing me over the edge to share this type of information that I didn't think people were interested in.
