Change in pork sausages
Instead of relying on inspirational quotes from famous people someone I know gets her friends and guests to give her their quotations sharing their view of the world. Then she puts them up on her fridge. She sent me a long list of quotes yesterday, together with this story she’d heard:
A friend visiting from Australia came to see me after Christmas. She told me how the family bought the Christmas hams; and this provides a brilliant example of just how creative we have become in Zimbabwe, and what constitutes ‘normal’ financial transactions. They transferred £ from a UK account to Mukuru.com, where it was used to purchase fuel coupons. The family collected these at an office in Harare and proceeded to Colcom, where the coupons were translated into ‘units of pig’. They bought their hams, and at the check out, the teller informed them of the amount and that Colcom owed them change. However, as there was a shortage of Zimbabwe notes and no small denomination US$ notes, the teller instead offered them two pork sausages! (In ‘normal’ countries, suggesting change in pork sausages would result in calls for men in white coats).
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 at 3:16 pm
Change in pork sausages…
Instead of relying on inspirational quotes from famous people someone I know gets her friends and guests to give her their quotations sharing their view of the world. Then she puts them up on her fridge. She sent me a long list of quotes yesterday, tog…
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 at 5:30 pm
This is a tribute to the inventiveness of Zimbabweans, which has helped so many get through these terrible times.
I have a question, though, about mukuru.com, which is offering very low rates of exchange; so low that one wonders how they can succeed as a business.
And yet this service is needed more than ever now that the Zim economy is almost completely dollarised. So many internet delivery sites are far too expensive for ordinary Diaspora Zimbabweans whose low paid jobs don’t allow them to make minimum orders worth thousands of rands!
So…is anyone here willing to vouch for Mukuru (no pun intended)? How long have they been going, and do they actually do what they say they will? These days you can’t trust a website just because it’s there.
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 11:33 am
Hey there Sally D, this is actually Rob from Mukuru.com – I’m more than happy to have a chat to you and convince you that there is nothing at all untoward about the website
The only thing wrong, is the abysmal weather we have to put up with in Clapham, London. The website has been going for about three years, and is run by a team of Zimbo’s over here. Give us a yell anytime – +442071830052 – cheers
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 8:23 pm
Thank you, Rob!
And well done for getting this together. Unfortunately, it’s likely that the service will be needed for years to come, though hopefully we’ll eventually get beyond converting pounds to petrol coupons to pork sausages.
How come you guys have got such low exchange rates? Come on, do tell.