THE STRATEGY OF MONEY

For one reason or another, money in foreign countries intrigues me.  I wrote a post on Eastern Caribbean Dollars when I lived in Saint Lucia and I’ve been thinking about this post for some time now. 

Inflation in Ghana is rising and people are complaining that the money they make doesn’t keep up with their expenses.  The conversion rate to one United States Dollar is 3.59GHS.  I’m told the average teacher in a village makes about 800GHS.  I have nothing to verify that, but expect it’s close to fact.  Peace Corps Volunteers here only make half that amount.  A one mile cab ride can be anywhere from three cedi to five cedi depending on negotiation skills and motivation to save a few cents.  Ten banana’s might cost one cedi and a pineapple cut and packaged is three cedi.

So for a traveller from the United States, Ghana is an affordable country.  The biggest problem here?  Figuring out how to pay people for the asking price.  It’s a game.  I don’t know the rules and they won’t tell me the rules.  I have a strategy that I will get to at the end of this post.

I have yet to find a place where credit cards are taken.  They are pretty much useless.  The first day I was here, I borrowed money to eat.  None of the ATM’s worked.  The second and third days were the same.  Finally on the forth day I found a working ATM and punched in a request for $200, but of course the machine gave me 200GHS.  Yikes!  How could I not know that?  Oh well, at least I had money.  Yup two crisp 50’s and 5 brand new 20’s ready to spend.  Nope, not so fast.  You see, those bills are pretty much useless.

And, here is where the game begins.  NO ONE makes change voluntarily.  NO ONE.  Wherever I go, unless it is the supermarket, I must be prepared for four options:

1.    I have the correct change to pay them

2.    I just give them too much and tell them to keep the change

3.    Stand my ground and wait for change.

4.    Go to the bank and trade in all the money for ones and twos

One of my students tells me that it is a game they play with foreigners.  They feel many will just cave and resort to Option 2 because we have “more” money.  She’s right, many times I do.  If something costs 4 cedi’s it’s easy to just give them five and be done with it.  It’s only about twenty-seven cents and a whole lot less stress.  Sometimes I have the exact change but I won’t spend it.  I find it better to go with Option 2 rather than give up my precious ones and twos.  There is something to be said of hoarding.  These bills are a premium possession. I was here several days before I even realized they made bills this small!  No one ever gave them up for me.

I have three money related stories.  Sometimes these stories take my breath away when I ponder the cultural differences in the world.

Last week I needed a seam in a blouse mended.  I got out my sewing kit and discovered there was no needle.  Just down the road, there is a woman who sits in a small wooden shack with a cement floor.  The doors wide open exposing the entire shop and giving her a good breeze through the back door in the heat of the day. She has an awning covering for a small porch.  She is a seamstress and this is her place of business.

I ponder the walk to the small shack.  It is a hot day and I have just returned from things I wanted to get done.  It’s best to do things before the sun soaks into a humid and sticky environment.  I debate whether to go back out, but it’s only a five-minute walk.  I grab the blouse and as I walk I out the gate, I hear the generator to our house kick on.  Oh, the electricity is off.  I wonder if she will be able to repair this.  Maybe I’m walking down there for nothing, but I continue.  She is open.

As I walk up, she is cutting fabric on a table.  She is making a dress.  Next to that table is another where her sewing machine sits.  There are lots of pictures and patterns of dresses she can make, some formal, some are red and black, the colors worn at funerals, and others more casual.

I show her the seam and she indicates she will do it while I wait.  It will cost three cedi.  I have 2 ones and a five.  I watch her fix the seam and laugh at myself about worrying if she will have electricity.  She handles the manual hand-cranked machine adeptly.  She clearly does a much better job than I would have if I had been able to do it myself.  I hand her the five.  She has no change.  Option 2 is the right choice.

There is a rule that I have learned.  NEVER show them you have small bills!  They will want them!  They will sometimes demand them!  I have learned to be aggressive about this.  I want them too!  I think there is a rule that the person with the most ones wins, although I can’t be sure as there are no written rules.

I went to the sandwich shop a few days ago.  My bill totaled twenty-six cedi.  I know he has change.  He does a good business there.  I’ve been given change there before, using Option 3.  I searched through my backpack until I came up with a twenty and a ten.  But he saw that I had exact change and demanded it.  No! This is a contest of wills.  I am competitive and I want to win the game of having the most ones.  I politely explain that I need my ones for cab money so he must come up with the change.

I have learned that when I think paying will be a slam-dunk, well…there are no slam dunks.  My sister will be here on Saturday for a week.  This trip is short and we want to make the most of it.  On top of our list is a visit to Kumasi.  We will visit Ashley in her village, explore Kumasi and attempt to find Ntonso, a village known for ink stamping.  Because time is limited we will fly there and back.  It’s only a forty minute flight.

I called African World Airlines to book the flight.  No problem, they have many flights to choose from.  I book it and have my credit card ready.  But wait!  You must have guessed.  They don’t take credit cards!  Nope, I have to go to Zenith Bank by the next day before 2:00 and give them the cash and get a receipt.  I am further instructed that if the airlines does not send me an email confirmation, I must call them to figure out why not.  No problem, I can do this.

I am going to need cash to pay for this ticket so I pack my ATM card, phone, and whatever else into my backpack and head out for the short walk to Zenith Bank.  I use the ATM and ask for 1000GHS.  The machine laughs at me.  Next I humbly request 400GHS and it responds much more positively.  That worked so I try it again.  Works again.  SCORE!

I walk into the bank and have no idea what to do.  No one really pays attention.  The last time I was in a bank was when I lived in Saint Lucia.  I smugly think to myself that Banks are so yesterday…but here I am, living in yesterday, and actually enjoying the adventure.   Finally, I am escorted to the front of the room and a woman offers me a seat and hands me a form to fill out.  I give it back to her along with 400GHS and she points to the tellers.

I wait in line for the teller and she fumbles around for at least ten minutes trying to figure out what to do with this money.  She asks the teller next to her, and manages to give me a receipt.  I'm not confident at this point.  This may be the reason I was given detailed instructions on what to do if I didn't receive confirmation.

While I’m there I say,  “can I get 20GHS in ones and 40GHS in twos?”  Yes, she responds as she takes my money.  Then she tells me to take a seat and wait.  I waited twenty minutes for the bills.  I’m not sure why.  I take pictures of this strange process while I wait.  After several minutes she motions for me. She put the bills through the counting machine several times before the right number came up.  Then she stuffed them in an envelope and I was on my way a mere hour and a half later.

 This is my strategy:

1.    Hoard small bills wisely.  I am in control of when and who I want to overpay! Always have small bills and never willingly spend them.  Keep in mind this is a competition and I have a need to win.

2.    Get rid of those useless 20s and 50s whenever there is an opportunity.  They just take up space.

3.    When retrieving exact change, do it in the most efficient way, spending the largest bills possible.

4.    Learn to be comfortable in the discomfort of standing my ground.

5.    Determine how I will carry a three-inch stack of bills around with me while hiding all these small bills.

6.    Be prepared for surprises, especially when I think something is a slam-dunk!

Now, I need to figure out the pesewa thing.  I wanted to buy peanuts a couple of days about and they wanted twenty pesewa.  I have a few coins but they aren’t with me – No one has ever wanted them before now!

Ya gotta love foreign countries!