After visits to the local village and Open Arms, we asked Sarah2 to drop us (Sarah1 and I) at Blantyre market. I thank Sarah2 very much for taking us around so many places. I pushed a few thousand kwachas in her hand for small contribution for petrol. I had worried that I might offend her by doing so but I really felt I should contribute something as petrol is VERY expensive (about £1/litre). Luckily she’s happy to accept that – so far I had not encountered anybody who refused gift (I mean any gift) in Malawi, rich or poor, I guess because resources are so much limited here! I had thought the pens and pencils I brought wouldn’t make an impressive gift, but no, they are! Even pens are scarce here! (where are those pharmaceutical companies..?! haha..)
The market is much larger than I had thought. Too bad I couldn’t take any pictures. If I did I wouldn’t have my camera with me now (that’s the advice from Sarah2). There was a large section for food. Large, but not many choices – all you can get for vegetables are tomatos, tomatos, and more tomatos... other common produce is onions (in very bad shapes..). Also some carrots, greens and I don’t remember what else.. ah yes only one stall sold cauliflower and cabbages. I can only remember those big red tomatoes.. and don’t assume they’re cheap because there’re plenty of them! There’s also a large section for shoes (yes just shoes, not clothes – just a few stalls selling clothes). Don’t ask me why.. maybe clothes isn’t essential items. Plus the third largest one selling all sorts of household items. Sarah was looking for some locally made souvenirs but we couldn’t find any. That’s also one thing I don’t understand about Malawi – almost all things are imported that’s why they’re expensive. Why can’t they just make produce or manufacture some simple items like food (e.g. rice and biscuits), household items as simple as toothpaste, or some handcraft which could be easily made from wood/rattan?? Malawi is not a dessert, but... ahh I just don’t understand!
As expected, we attracted a lot of attention in the market simply because we look different. We didn’t see any white or Asians (those are ‘posh’ shoppers who buy things from the supermarkets, or ask their servants to buy for them). That’s why we had a tough time haggling. Sarah gave up after a few trials. Well as a Malaysian, haggling is just part and parcel of life. I became quite comfortable with it after a few times. But the price didn’t really go down very much as I had hoped for. 1kg of rice costs 200kc (about £1). 1 small plastic container costs 100kc (about 50p). 1 bunch of bananas 100kc (50p). My most successful bid was getting ten hangers for 200kc (from the first quoted price of 500).
Another thing worth mentioning is that plastic bags don’t come free in the market. They’re even on sale. One (very bad quality) plastic bag cost 10kc or 5kc after bargaining. There’s no issue of recycling in this country – in fact there’s no need for it! Everything is so precious to be thrown away – I’m even still keeping the Hovis bread bag (brought from Nottingham) until today!
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