If there is one thing lacking in Africa, it is... everything. There just isn't enough stuff to go around. And when there isn't enough stuff to go around, the little stuff there is gets really expensive. It's absurd, especially when you think how little money the people who live here make. If I consider it expensive, it must be otherworldly to most of them.
It is Economics 101, supply and demand, but on a very personal level. As a great writer, Jared Diamond, said: people in third world countries are always asking him "Why do white people have so much cargo?" I.e. why do they always have so much stuff with them when they arrive?
Our first experience with the lack of stuff was in Zimbabwe. We arrived to the gas station, with about a quarter of a tank of gas left, happy to spot the lighted sign on dark, distant horizon. However, as we arrived in the well-built, large gas station, we realized a fatal flaw: it had no gas to sell. A gas station with no gas. They did have Coke, however, or a few bags of chips, if you are interested. But really, what is a gas station with no gas?
I suppose the answer is that a gas station with no gas is an African gas station. Because, days later, in Tanzania, we had what was somewhere between a tragic and comedic experience. With our gas tank dropping below half full, we proceeded to pull into four straight empty gas stations, all about 100 miles apart on the semi-deserted road. The largest road in Tanzania, mind you, connecting the Indian Ocean ports with all of central Africa. We ended our day finding gas at the last station, 32 miles on reserve, 372 miles traveled on the Honda's twelve gallon tank.
But wait, it gets better. Literally the day before, we had cruised into the gas station, 365 miles into our tank, hours without having seen a gas station. Cruised, in that the motor was dead, we were out of gas, and we were on a downhill, with a head of steam, coasting into the only gas station in town. Luckily this one did have gas.
Gas is not the only scarcity, however. Ravenous one day In the middle of rural Tanzania, we stopped in the largest town for miles around - a small roadside community of perhaps 2,000 with scores of tiny stores and market stalls. However, there was only one restaurant, a tiny room with a woman cooking and her three brothers serving as waiters. However, this restaurant's menu consisted of rice and beans. With no sauce, salt, or other options. So, making lemonade out of lemos, I went to the store next door and bought a big bottle of hot sauce. Suddenly we were eating dirty rice and beans. At the end of the meal, we gave the burgoning eatery our large leftover bottle of hot sauce. One of the brothers excitedly grabbed his crotch, put his other hand in the air, and shuffling in circles, dancing and singing "Chili Sauce! Chili Sauce! I am so happy! I am so happy!" Never have I seen one so happy with so little.
Other stuff is also hard to come by - like t-shirts. If you ever want to come back home to the USA with a massive amount of handicrafts, carvings, and memorabilia, simply pack a bag with old t-shirts and come to Malawi. In the rural areas, every craftsman you meet is willing to either sell or barter - do you have $10 or perhaps an old t-shirt? When I couldn't find the change to make a deal happen ($5 was not enough for what I was buying), the carver asked me if I could give him anything. I went back to the car, emerged with a USA stars and stripes pen, and the deal was struck.
Wear a soccer jersey for a day in Africa, and you will have multiple people offer to buy it off you. Literally the shirt off your back. Unfortunately, for me, soccer jerseys are keepsakes, otherwise I would be coming home with a mother lode of priceless carvings.
They don't even have enough money. Printed money, or coins. Try to pay, and they don't have change to give you, so they offer you a little sweet or make you buy more. At the office to buy boat tickets, where a ticket across a body of water costs $35, the woman couldn't make change for me to buy in dollars. Umm, why do you quote your price in dollars when you don't have change for a $50? Shouldn't you at least have change for your customers so they can buy a ticket?
Money, food, gas, clothes. I didn't even mention the lack of asphalt to pave roads, or cars to drive on them, or even bicycles to ride around. Stuff is hard to come by here. Want to get rich? Just get lots of stuff to Africa, where there is lots of stuff they can trade you for it. Make it affordable stuff, and you could sell as much as there is money here. How odd to think that actual things could be more valuable than money...
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