Makes me wanna HOLLA!

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2008/2/13

New Meaning of Dirt Poor: Hungry Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt

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@ 04:17 PM (9 months, 12 days ago)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.

Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking even thinner than the slim 6 pounds 3 ounces he weighed at birth.

Comment(s) »

  1. That's really sad. It's really a shame that we can't spend the trillions we are wasting in Iraq on humanitarian causes.

    Comment by Dugg— 2008/02/13 @ 04:44 PM — (Reply)

  2. Hello Dugg. Thanks so much for commenting on my new blog page. It's a work in progress -- and you are the FIRST! Please come back, I wish you well.

    Comment by Charity— 2008/02/13 @ 05:45 PM — (Reply)

  3. It is sad. What is being done? Are you Haitian?

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2008/02/13 @ 05:51 PM — (Reply)

  4. No, not Haitian. I'm a Black American woman.

    Comment by Charity— 2008/02/13 @ 06:01 PM — (Reply)

  5. I was just curious. Is Haiti special to you for a reason?

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2008/02/13 @ 06:12 PM — (Reply)

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