The Faces Of Poverty

A few days ago, after returning from another trip to Haiti, it occured to me that I might be spending a great deal of my paid time in the poorest places on earth. That might perhaps be why I see the world as having two faces; the well-off and the absolute poor. So I looked it up.

Sure enough, measured in GDP per capita that is exactly what I do. Moldova is Europe's poorest country. Haiti is the poorest in the Americas. Afghanistan is the poorest in Asia. The only country I am missing, and the poorest on Earth, is Burundi in Africa (which I am trying not to visit any time soon).

Compare the following average annual per capita GDPs for example; Moldova USD 1,400 (tied with Djibouti and Papua New Guinea), Haiti USD 800 (tied with Benin, Cambodia, Chad, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho and the Solomon Islands) and Afghanistan USD 400 (tied with the Central African Republic and in the bottom 10 countries of the world). That's USD 33 to 117 a month. Egypt isn't much better than Moldova at USD 2,100.

I actually lived in one of these places for a year. Even with money it was not pleasant. Daily living just grinds down the soul. For example, this

fellow is selling phone calls from a wireless phone at a gas station. Most Haitians can't make phone calls any other way. There are no public phones (or other utilities of any kind) in most places and many can't afford services on cell phones.

To provide perspective, the opposite ends of spectrum are Lichtenstein in Europe (USD 145,700), the US in the Americas (USD 46,900) and Qatar in Asia (USD 124,000). It is the difference between skyscrapers and mud brick houses, clean tapwater and brackish wells with buckets, hospitals and buying pharmaceuticals by the pill from street vendors.

I have an ever-shrinking tolerance for people who complain about not getting what they deserve; not having the latest thing-a-ma-bob; not being treated fairly. I think it comes from walking the streets and rubbing shoulders with these people on a monthly basis. I suspect many of our immigrant ancestors were very like these people; resilient, clever, resourceful and patient. It makes me wonder what untapped genetic potential is yet lying in reserve in ourselves generations later, waiting for a real challenge?