A Family Business

Haiti Family Initiative Program
Jacmel, Haiti
Summer, 2013

Tuesday, July 23- I am living in a boarding house for the time being. The boarders live upstairs and the family lives on the first floor. The woman in charge has a very lucrative business on the side.  She owns a refrigerator chest, run by a generator, which is kept locked away in an enclosed room.  So any time, day or night, she can serve up an ice cold beverage.  She sells water in a pouch for about 8 cents. It holds about 4 ounces, just enough to quench a thirst. Bottles of Teem, Fanta and Cream Soda sell for 15 gourdes, about 30 cents.  The favorite is Fruit Champagne, an orange drink with 67 grams of sugar.

I am sold a bottle of water which goes for 50 cents.  I am never offered the pooch. She also has Prestige, the only beer made in Haiti. It’s a lager, which I don’t normally like.  But on these hot afternoons, there is something nice about sitting on the porch and drinking my cold, 90 cent beer.  The most expensive drink is Guinness, the only other beer choice in Haiti.  This beer goes for 50G, #1.20, the price of a meal in some restaurants.  I am the only one who drinks the Guinness.

When I leave in the morning, she is selling water to everyone in the neighborhood. When I say good night in the late evening, she is still sliding drinks through the closed gate on her porch.