Spare Change

Getting your money from into a form that is actually usable is often a challenge here, as I talked about last time. From the bank to the bairro, it is adventure to get a denomination that you can actually use. The exchange rate with the US dollar is about 30-to-1 (with the Euro I think it is around 40-to-1). So when you get your 500mt note from the ATM, you're not even getting $20.

But because of the scale that people charge for things here, your money goes further than you think. Want a mango, that'll be 1mt. An avocado, 5mt. Hot, fresh roasted corn-on-the-cob, 10mt.

On the other end, things that aren't food are often priced and packaged for you to buy only exactly what you need with as little money as possible. Need laundry detergent, for example? You will never have enough money sitting around to buy the family-super-saver jumbo size of laundry detergent that will last for six months. If you do, you'll be left with no money for food. You will buy an individual packet of laundry soap for 3mt that will wash maybe four or five day's worth of clothes (for a guy). Or you will buy a bar of laundry soap for 10mt and that will get your family through a week.

While twenty is the smallest bank note here, the coins in Mozambique are in the ten, five, two, one, and fifty-cent denominations. Fifty-cents because there are actually a lot of things that will cost 1.5 or 2.5 or 7.5. Past ten everything for sale is in whole numbers, and often really round, nice numbers. Nothing is going to cost 17. Or even 199. Just 200. There are no price wars here.

The fight for most people is to get their money from large bills down to these small coins. But thanks to a new law, once you get your money into coins, not all of it is usable.

When Mozambique devalued its currency nine years ago, things were a thousand times more expensive. After years of hyperinflation people were paying 500mt for a loaf of bread. The government decided to overhaul it's practices, stop printing money, and lop off a whole bunch of zeroes. That same bread that was 5000mt became five. With the changes came all new currency, notes, coins, and all. The coins they were minting at 500mt became 50 cents. 1000Mt became 1mt, and so on.

The notes were taken out of circulation but people were allowed to keep using the old coins, which were the same size and color and design as the new coins. The only difference was they were written 5mt instead of five-thousand and were about half as heavy because they were made from aluminum.

Most vendors in the market have piles of these coins after doing a full day of business selling rolls (2mt) or donuts and cookies(1mt). They were mixed in with the newer minted coins and everybody knows that even though the coin said 1000 that it really means 1.

Things were fine until last week when the government announced that after 9 years it was tired seeing the old coins in circulation and decreed that they were no longer valid legal tender. The next day people were bemoaning the fact that their piles of change would no longer be recognized as currency—bemoaning that is until they got wise and realized that they can use whatever they want to as currency.

The kids know that I hoard the old currency. I used them as souvenirs to give to people when I was back in the states. The only reason is I think foreign currencies are cool and it was funny handing people a coin marked as five thousand and telling its worth about 18 cents. They kids were laughing at me because my accumulated wealth of maybe 30mts (=$1) was now useless.

This prompted a mini lecture on the history of money, saying that anything you ascribe value to can be used as payment, be it coins, salt, shiny pots and smallpox blankets, gold, tulips, oil, land, or whatever.

The next day I set out to prove them wrong and headed to the market to buy donut holes. (Donut holes is really the best equivalent description I can think of. They're small, fried, and coated in sugar glaze and that's just about what they are. And they're on sale EVERYWHERE.)

As usual, there are a line of about five ladies with donut holes all in a row and all competing for your money. I started at one end and went to buy a single donut hole with the old money. The lady looked at it and then pronounced "This money is old," which meant I couldn't use it. I just kind of held the money in my hand as the gal next to her said, "I'll take it then," grabbed my money and gave me a donut.

It seems as if the old money was still working just as good. I went the third lady in the line, handed her the old money and asked for a donut. She also said that it wasn't valid. But that didn't stop the fourth lady from saying that the money is just as good to her. She took it and gave me a donut.

I returned to the orphanage with donuts in hand and the kids all applauded me.