CENSUS

A few weeks ago after receiving our 2000 census form in the mail, I sat down with a cup of coffee, and dutifully filled it out. As I contemplated the finished form, I was thinking about the great mass of people in the third world and how they would fill out such a form.

In Haiti there probably wouldn’t even be a census because many births and deaths go unrecorded, and most of the rural countryside is pretty inaccessible due to the mountainous terrain and the lack of any roads. Also a literacy rate of less then 20% would preclude most of the people from reading or writing to fill out the form. I’m sure the government of Haiti has no ideas as to the true population of that impoverished island nation; besides why even bother to take a census because there is absolutely nothing to divide or redistribute. No pork barrel there!

For a moment I imagined myself in the shoes of a poor Haitian farmer and filled out "my Haitian" form.

Do you live in a house, condo, apartment, other?  Other - (mud and stick hut)

How many people live with you?   8 - 12

How many bathrooms do you have?   None

Do you have a kitchen with water, stove, refrigerator?

How many vehicles do you keep at your home?    One donkey

6.What was your gross income for 1999?   $250 in bartered goods

7.What was the total amount of interest received in 1999?     What is interest?

8. How do you get to work?  On foot

9. How much time do you commute each day?    Two hour walk each way

10. How much was produced on your farm this year? Crop was lost due to drought

This was just a brief mental "exercise" for me, but for the poor around the world it really represents a tragedy.