Money

I've been dealing with various things to do with money this week, so I thought I'd write an introduction to all things financial Gambia-style ...

The Gambian currency is the Dalasi, at present the exchange rate to the GB pound is about 50 dalasi to the pound. The notes come in denominations of up to 100 Dalasi, which means that for any large transaction you've got to have serious wedges of notes:



This is about 500 pounds (25,000 D) which I was getting together for buying a second-hand car.

So, when buying stuff out here, there are a couple of things to bear in mind.

The first thing to realise about buying anything in the Gambia is that the price is always open for negotiation, with the possible exception of supermarkets and restaurants.

The second thing to realise is that the people selling things will adjust their asking price according to what they think you can or might pay. And being a white person (the local word is "toubab") automatically puts you into the "potential high price" category...

So as an example, this would be me buying some mangos in the market :

Me :"How much for one mango ?"

Old lady at market stall: "Fifty dalasi for mangos"

Me : (laughing) "What ! Do you think I'm crazy ? Thats a toubab price - come on what's the real price?"

Old lady: "Twenty dalasi for one mango"

Me : "That's too much, I paid 5 dalasi last week for two mangos, come on ... can you give me an MRC discount ? I am a doctor at MRC, you know, I work in the Gambia for six months, I'm not a tourist..."

(playing the MRC card sometimes helps - but can backfire if they decide that you must therefore earn lots)

Old lady (now amused by my frantic pleading) : "I give you two mangoes for 15 dalasi, these are very good mangos"

Me : (walking away now): "Sorry, that's too expensive."

Old lady (suddenly worried I might really leave) : "Wait, I'll give you two mangos for 10 dalasi, and you can buy some tomatoes too ..."

Which is about the normal price : mangos for 5 dalasi (=10pence!) depending on quality... The problems come when you don't really know how much something is supposed to be sold for. Generally stuff is very cheap :

Bottle of coke : 8 D
Taxi trip (short) : 5 to 10 D
Meal at restaurant : 150 to 200 D
New shirt (made by local tailor) : 250D
Overnight stay at luxurious beach hotel inc 4 meals and drinks : 600 D

In fact, you can live for next to nothing out here, which is good for me as I'm living off my savings for these six months, though the MRC are paying for my accomodation and for my airfares... So very good for cheap holidays if any of you are looking for a place for a bit of winter sunshine.

And finally...

Hello Catherine, Mary and Maria ... I'll be thinking of you all slaving away on NHS on-call rotas while I spend my weekends at the beach for the next six months...
Thanks for the lovely photos, you're all looking well ! When are the next engagements going to be announced ?