Terri Brown: Nicaragua, Day 2
On the second day of our Nicaragua adventure we were given the task of shopping.
The average Nicaragua family of 4 - mom, dad and 2 children - makes slightly less than one US dollar a day, or 20 Nicaraguan Cordovas. So our task was to go to the market with 20 Cordova and buy enough food to feed our family of 4 for a day. We split up into teams and went out shopping. The markets are not like we think of our markets nice air condition, all food items kept at their required temperature. We were at an outdoor market and everything from shoes and clothes to toys and tools from fruit, meat ,fish and cheese just out in the hot sun.
So we were off to shop for a day’s worth of food for a family of 4 with our 20 Cordovas (US $1).
We walked up and down a few aisles of the local market and saw people of all ages selling their goods trying to make a daily wage. We come to a space that had food, the lady had 3 different prices of rice and 2 different prices of beans. Rice and beans are the stable food for every Nicaraguan family.
The rice ranged from 8 to13 Cordovas a pound and the beans ranged from 8 to10 Cordovas a pound. My team decided to go with the middle priced rice and the cheaper beans. So we brought 3/4 pound of rice for and ½ pound beans.
With the 8 and a half Cordovas that we had left, we went walking around to find some fruit and vegetables to supplement our basics. We ended up getting 1 onion, one tomato, 1 papaya and 4 plantains. The other groups got basically the same meals, with some pineapple, leechees and tortillas. I think we had 1 Cordova left.
So this bowl is what a family of 4 would have for breakfast, lunch and dinner almost everyday. As you can see 20 Cordovas does not go very far to feed a family of 4.
The malnutrition among children is 40% nationally and 60-70 % in the rural areas.
Unemployment is 60% nationally and 95% in rural areas.
82.3% of the population lives in extreme poverty on less than $ 1.00 per day and in many rural areas the poverty is much worse. Nicaragua’s geology, climate and location has made it prone to a host of natural disasters including volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, droughts, hurricanes which accelerates the cycle of poverty.
