Talk:Haiti

one billion dollars per year are paid to grocery services that take money from Haitian emigrants in cities like Montreal, Canada and deliver a load of groceries anywhere in Haiti - typically at well marked up prices.

I don't understand what this means. Care to explain in more detail and with clearer language?

Someone calls the service and orders big bags of rice, beans, and sugar and stuff, and they deliver it anywhere in Haiti, taking the payment in Canadian dollars. It seems pretty expensive, but, if you sent money to them directly, they'd have to cash cheques or else the post office might take the cash, and they'd have to transport the goods; So these services seem to be popular and trusted. The billion dollars per year (don't know if that's Canadian or US but figure there must be a lot they dont know about) is the total sent back to Haiti by emigrants in other countries. Not sure if that number is from Canada alone! Probably not.

"Cookies" made of margarine and clay can be purchased in the markets.

Clay as in solid mud? Doesn't sound very appetizing and bad for teeth also? I find this a little hard to believe. Have you seen this for yourself or is this one of those "can you imagine..."-scary-weird-gross-out-can't-believe-that-you-believe-stories?

Source is Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One, "Dispatches". And yes poor people do whatever they have to do to survive, whether its bad for their teeth or not.