Whenever I have worked in developing countries, it never ceases to amaze me how enterprising people can be. They are quick to spot a market gap and come up with their own creative ways to fill that local need.
It's easy to focus on the problems (since there are so many!) in a place like Baseco. But it's important to also celebrate the ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit, and resilience of the people. The people know that they cannot rely on the Government to fix their problems in a speedy or satisfactory manner, So they come up with their own solutions and lean on each other to solve problems.
A perfect example of this creative problem solving is the "Piso Wi-Fi". I have never heard of this until now.... But basically Internet connection at Baseco costs something like 1,625 pesos per month, which is about AU$43. Given that people make circa AU$2.50 to peel a 15kg bag of garlic, this is a hugely prohibitive amount of money for connectivity. Hence the total genius of the "Piso Wi-Fi" which is when households who do have Internet connectivity then on-sell it to the general public in small chunks. Anyone can go to these "Piso Wi-Fi" machine and pay just 1 peso for 10 minutes of Wi-Fi. This is perfect for people who may be working during the day and only need to download emails, etc. but don't need constant connectivity. You can find these "Piso Wi-Fi" machines everywhere in Baseco outside of homes as well as the little shops.
This is the same concept as satchet purchasing of grocery items. People have very low incomes so they cannot buy items in large quantities the way we do. They buy only what they need for that week for example. Whereas we may buy oil in 2L quantity for example, in low income areas, they may only be able to buy enough for the week. This is the same for just about every day-to-day product you can imagine, from shampoo, chicken stock, oil, ketchup, sugar, biscuits, etc. Unfortunately though, this does generate a huge amount of plastic packaging which is probably the number one waste item we see in Baseco.
Access to clean water is a huge need in Baseco. Many people don't have running water to their homes and they have to line up to get clean water. There are also vending machines where you can insert coins and then fill up with filtered water. In many homes which is connected to water supply, you are still restricted on when you can use water. For example at the church, water only comes out from the tap between 7 PM and 2 AM. As a result, most people have large plastic drums and lots of buckets where they fill as many as they can during these hours and it would need to last them the rest of the day. If you forget to fill the drums or buckets, then you will have no water that day. It is incredibly frustrating to see that in this day and age, so many parts of the world still does not have access to clean water; and that those who do, often take it for granted.
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