Rich Gringos

There’s an interesting phenomenon of gringos with land rovers, and fancy houses on a hilltop. Most of these people can’t afford to live in luxury where they are originally from, but their money stretches much further here. I am starting to understand why there isn’t a sense of urgency in helping a developing country.

Many international development aid agencies may set a huge chunk of money for development, but if you look at the breakdown of just how much of that chunk is going to pay for the salaries of their employees amongst other amenities, little is appropriated for project implementation. This is what is interesting about Peace Corps here in Nicaragua and the fact that we’re volunteers. We don’t get paid a salary, just a living stipend comparable to what the average host country national would be paid.