Look After the Tambala and the Kwacha Will Look After Themselves
on Me Talk Pretty One Day (Malawi), 29/Sep/2008 06:58, 34 days ago
Now I don’t know whether it’s because of the current financial crisis affecting world money markets, or because I’m working as a volunteer for a charity in theThird World, but I currently find myself trying to survive on little more than£5 a day (or approximately 1,600 Malawian Kwacha). And given that the cost of many items inLilongweis, surprisingly, comparable to that at home, and some of the more luxurious items are actually far more expensive,£5 a day is insufficient to maintain the kind of lifestyle to which I have become accustomed. So I am learning to be frugal. I’m counting the Tambala, bartering like a local, saving money wherever I can. Below is a list of my attempts so far at living prudently:1– I have taped over the switch for the water heater and am now taking my showers cold. Not only has this saved money on the electricity bill, but given that my showers now last an average of 30 seconds, I’m saving on the water bill too.2– In American cities there is said to be a Starbucks on every corner; here inMalawi, there is a barber’s. A haircut is perhaps the one thing which is significantly cheaper than back home. For a price of just 28 pence I had all of my hair shaved off, thus saving money on shampoo.3– Rather than purchasing a new mirror for the bathroom, I am using two broken shards of mirror that I found in the garden. I have attached these pieces to the wall using blu-tac, which, like the mirror itself, was extravagantly disregarded by the undoubtedly wealthy previous occupant of the house.4– At the supermarkets here inLilongwe, buying several small packets can sometimes work out cheaper than buying one large packet. Because of this nonsensicality, I have taken to walking around shops determining the relative value of goods using the calculator on my mobile phone. Shopping for groceries often takes two hours or more, but it’s worth it.5– Ritebrand isAfrica’s answer to Tesco Value. Since discovering their prices, I have become the company’s best customer. My kitchen is currently stocked with Ritebrand rice, Ritebrand pasta, Ritebrand peaches and Ritebrand guava; my fridge is filled with Ritebrand burgers, Ritebrand margarine and Ritebrand long-life milk; my cleaning cupboard holds Ritebrand dish-washing liquid, Ritebrand household cleaner and Ritebrand bleach, plus an abundant supply of high-quality Ritebrand toilet paper should any of their other products not be of such a high quality.Enough said.