Joe works on sustainable food projects (he's going to teach classes to interested patients who want to learn about gardening), Ron works with clean water (we're hoping he'll consult with us on our well and how we can help get clean water to our neighbors), and Jamie likes to build.
They have come to stay with us to build us two shade houses for our garden and we are SOO excited. This will mean we can grow plants about 15degrees cooler than the outside temperature and these plants will have a cover which will allow 40% sun and rain water to soak through. Apparently they have built these all over Haiti and several other countries and the recipients of these shade houses have had a lot of success.
Here's a photo of Ron, Jamie and the appropriately-named Redheads Without Borders members Nancy, Eve and Susan prepping the ground for the shade houses. |
Yesterday I was talking to Joe about how much people want to be paid in Haiti since we almost always have an employee dissatisfied with their salary. When we first came to Haiti we were advised that $100 USD/month was adequate since the average person in Haiti makes $600/year. We have paid our employees well above that and we also provide room, board and free health care. Yet some are still unhappy.
Joe said they will always be unhappy with what we pay. We were cut off after he said this last statement but I plan to pick his brain to try to understand why. Is it a cultural thing to try to get as much as you can? Are they worried we'll pick up and leave and they'll be out of a job so they better get what they can? Do they see our extravagant lifestyle in comparison with theirs and think they can probably get more pay? I'll let you know what I find out when I get a chance to talk to him.
I am looking forward to this week not only so we can learn more about gardening from this trio, but so we can also have some help navigating our way through this foreign land.
I just googled "why are Haitians always unhappy with their pay?" because you can find almost any answer in Google and I have been curious about the same thing. Your post was the fifth on the list of results. Thought you would get a kick out of that! And no, there is no answer on the net, so Joe had better tell you.
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