Can you believe that in a city of over one million people, there are only two appliance stores? And were not talking Best Buy size, either. More like 7-11 size. Not 7-11 prices, though.

I am no economist, but when very few people can afford something like a refrigerator, the prices skyrocket. Or maybe it is because we are accustomed to the leveraged prices afforded us by our superstores and our strength of consumer spending. Who knows?

So, while we can buy a fresh pineapple, mango, avocado, a few tea bags, half a dozen eggs, and a coke for under 2 bucks here in Tanzania, the cheapest clothes dryer… let me rephrase… the only clothes dryer, costs $500.

Ironically, the dryer is only used during the rainy season, about 5 months of the year. Otherwise, clothes go out on the line. Clothes lines, I might add, are quite cheap here.


In other news, Josiah and I traveled to a Tanzanian-run orphanage on the outskirts of town. We accompanied Jason as he set up a two-day stay for our interns. Perhaps we will have an ongoing relationship with this orphanage, assuming we are able to learn Swahili and actually be able to communicate with people.

Josiah seems to think that if you just talk loud enough and point fingers, the message is conveyed. He played for about an hour with some of the orphan boys, but as we all know, boys don’t need to talk anyways. It was funny to hear him yelling, “Y’all come over here”. It will be even funnier to return to the orphanage and hear all the boys practice their good English they learned from Josiah.