This means the same money days ago only goes half as far today.
myLIFEspeaks has recently experienced an abrupt loss of value on the US dollar to Haitian Gourde, meaning our dollars can only do half of what they could do days ago. We have lost 45% of our US Dollar’s value in 30 days.
This devaluation is less reflective on the value of the dollar-to-gourde but rather politically motivated, rash decision-making and the flooding of the Haitian economy with US Dollars from outside sources.
Unfortunately, the Haitian people, who already struggle to make ends meet, are the ones who suffer. For us, this means we were only able to get rice and oil (no beans) with the same amount of money we typically use to get all three to feed the vulnerable in our village commUNITY through our programs.
Prices and costs of services/products in Haiti are scheduled to be adjusted due to this economic shift, but our costs are still skyrocketing. For instance, fuel prices were just adjusted but the cost has gone from $1.47 to $2.88 per gallon of diesel even after the adjustment. Costs of food and supplies at the market continue to remain high but we pray they will also adjust in the near future.
We continue to provide meal supplies on a monthly basis for children, families, elderly, and vulnerable in our commUNITY ensuring they get necessary nutrients. We have discussed moving our feeding programming from “on campus” to “in-home” for a long time. COVID inadvertently jump started that process.
The idea behind in-home feeding versus on-campus is that we want to empower the parents to care for their children. We want the parents to be seen as the providers and heroes, not somebody else or myLIFEspeaks. We will continue to supply all that we can for those in our community.
We will keep you updated on the drastic changes we’re experiencing and how our work is affected by this economic crisis. As always, we appreciate your financial support and your prayers.
Thank you!,
Mike Wilson
Co-Founder & CEO of myLIFEspeaks
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