Gambia: the way we pay

The first couple of weeks in a new country typically involve a lot of searching for stores to buy food, supplies, furniture, and everything else that feels like necessary to set up a passably normal household.

This task is becoming easier each time because of experience and a lot more things can be ordered online. Still, online shopping has its limits. In fact, I’m not sure it’s really a thing in The Gambia. Besides, you still gotta open accounts in person, check out furniture in real life, and figure out what payment system to use. In Gambia, as far as I can tell, almost everything has to be done in person.

Big Stacks

Unfortunately, we have to pay everything with cash. Although increasingly people here are using Wave, but that’s an app you have to charge with cash! Local bank accounts exist, of course, but this has not been offered to us expats as an option. Which says something, because we’ve had local bank accounts in many countries, including our most recent posting in India.

Conversion wise, 1 dollar here is worth 71.50 Gambian Dalasi, and this biggest bill is 200 Dalasi ($2.80). So when we did our initial shopping, you can imagine how many tall stacks of cash we had to carry if you consider the fact that we bought around $500 worth of groceries, lots of outdoor furniture, paid for school lunches, signed up the kids for several classes, and went out for a few nice dinners.

Finding furniture

I found that furniture shopping is not a straightforward affair in The Gambia. It seems there are a few high-end stores that sell ornate pieces in line with what I assume is the local taste. Then there are the roadside shops, selling carved wooden bed frames, baskets, and who knows what else.

We chose a third option: Swiss Lights, which sells light fixtures as well as imported consignment furniture from Europe. A lot of it seems from businesses that may have gone outta business. Most of it is either new or made to look like new. All the stuff was piled high and partially wrapped up in plastic, so not ideal for browsing. But we found some colorful barstools and chairs  perfect for our huge patio.

Big roach

We also checked out a second hand everything store called Amsterdam (we noted many signs of possible Dutch ownership). A couple of people had recommended it. We were even told that the former U.S. ambassador came there regularly, which is surprising, because it was pretty underwhelming. A lot of it was just old. One closet had a large roach in it.

But after combing through everything we ended up with two pretty decent wicker sets and a few handy items like trash cans and ice cube trays.

Next up: painting the place!!

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