INFLATION

Inflation is a real problem here in Haiti lately. Food prices are dramatically higher than they have been over the years. Gas was rare for most of 2021, and prices shot up. Gas is now pretty easy to find, but prices seem to only go higher. 

I remember when $100 Haitian dollars was a big deal. A family could eat for days with that much money in their hands. Nowadays, I send $100 into the street for an evening snack, and there is no change.

School students used to eat and drink with five or six dollars during recess. Now ten dollars can't even buy a drink.

I remember sending people to market with a few hundred dollars, but that would not even be enough to justify a trip to the market at this point. One thousand dollars is just a minimum amount to start buying bags of rice and gallons of oil. 

Back in the day, I could go to the local street-restaurant in town with $100 in my pocket and buy food for myself, a few young men at my house, and a guest or two. Cooked food was $15 per plate. That same price can only buy a cold drink nowadays. The plate of food is $40 or $50. 

With my money coming from outside, I "see" the change in prices more than I "feel" the change. People all over Haiti feel the change in their stomachs. It is real. Their income is limited, or even dwindling in some cases. Their ability to purchase food is diminished greatly. I am dealing with more 'hunger' issues now than I have in decades, it seems.

With the situation in Europe, thinks are most assuredly going to get worse. We are working on ways to conserve money. We are making plans to produce food. Food security is a real concern for all of the developing world, and ASAPH is trying to catch up a bit with the growing need right here.  

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING this important ministry in one tiny community of Haiti !   
 

​