Last week for Swahili class, we went to Tengeru Market to practice our vegetable names and bargaining skills. Tengeru isn’t as big as the main market in downtown, but it’s closer to TCDC and still has tons of wauzaji (sellers) selling their wares. The largest part of the market is dedicated to fruits (matunda) and vegetables (mboga), though secondhand clothes (mitumba) and household items are also available. When shopping for foods you don’t pay by weight, but by the fungu, or pile. Big piles (fungu kubwa) are obviously bigger than small piles (fungu mdogo), and sometimes if you try to bargain to low they just take a couple tomatoes out of the pile and smile at you teasingly. Our Swahili teachers (Walimu wa Kiswahili) gave us each 2000 Tanzanian Shillings (Tsh), the equivalent of about $1.25 USD, to spend. Good-natured bargaining is definitely necessary, but I was able to buy:
6 Green Bell Peppers (Pilipili hoho) = 700Tsh ($0.44)
+ 1 Giant, Mutated Eggplant (Bilingani) = 300Tsh ($0.19)
+ 2 Piles (golf-ball sized) Onions (Vintunguu) = 250Tsh ($0.16)
+ 2 Pieces Ginger (Tangawizi) = 150Tsh ($0.09)
+ 10 Oranges (Wachungwa) = 600Tsh ($0.38)
Total = 2000Tsh
+ 1 Giant, Mutated Eggplant (Bilingani) = 300Tsh ($0.19)
+ 2 Piles (golf-ball sized) Onions (Vintunguu) = 250Tsh ($0.16)
+ 2 Pieces Ginger (Tangawizi) = 150Tsh ($0.09)
+ 10 Oranges (Wachungwa) = 600Tsh ($0.38)
Total = 2000Tsh
Quite a bargain! At first I was a bit overwhelmed. Most people shopped in pairs, but I went off alone and could never decide on what was a good price. I think my best deal was the oranges—everyone else paid 500Tsh for five. My strategy of “Tafadhali, mimi ni mwanafunzi mbaya wa Kiswahili tayari! Ninahitaji wachungwa fungu wawili, lakini nina shilingi mia sita tu!” (Please, I’m already a bad Swahili student! I need two piles of oranges but I only have 600 shillings left!)
After spending my 2000Tsh, I went off in search of a kanga or kitenge. A kanga is a rectangular, bordered piece of cloth with Swahili proverbs on it. Women wear them as skirts, head wraps, baby slings, and everything in between. They are never cut or sewn. Kitenges, on the other hand, are longer strips of patterned cloth used to tailor into whatever you want. I ended up buying two beautifully colored kitenges for just 14000Tsh total, a nice deal. I can’t wait to have a skirt made!
Seeing how low the prices of everything are here makes me wonder about the way per capita income is calculated. While there obviously is a lot of true poverty, it is also not accurate to compare incomes without taking into account cost of living. Yeah, the average person may survive on less than a dollar or two a day, but really, if they have access to markets like these? That’s more than feasible. I’m not trying to discount the fact that a lot of Africans and even specifically Tanzanians may be starving every day, but I think it’s still important to consider this huge cost difference. Just something to ponder.
After spending my 2000Tsh, I went off in search of a kanga or kitenge. A kanga is a rectangular, bordered piece of cloth with Swahili proverbs on it. Women wear them as skirts, head wraps, baby slings, and everything in between. They are never cut or sewn. Kitenges, on the other hand, are longer strips of patterned cloth used to tailor into whatever you want. I ended up buying two beautifully colored kitenges for just 14000Tsh total, a nice deal. I can’t wait to have a skirt made!
Seeing how low the prices of everything are here makes me wonder about the way per capita income is calculated. While there obviously is a lot of true poverty, it is also not accurate to compare incomes without taking into account cost of living. Yeah, the average person may survive on less than a dollar or two a day, but really, if they have access to markets like these? That’s more than feasible. I’m not trying to discount the fact that a lot of Africans and even specifically Tanzanians may be starving every day, but I think it’s still important to consider this huge cost difference. Just something to ponder.