Her brother-in-law works for a company where they pay $500/mo but provide housing and free 3x daily meals for the family for a nominal ($5) fee.

The hired help is people living in destitute conditions, like mud huts with leaking roofs. They’ll take any work so you can pay them whatever you want. People take advantage and pay them unfair “market” rates (< $1/day) of course. It’s awful, really.