| Note: The exchange rate is currently around D18 to $1. Per person per day in� Dalasi (D) Dollars ($) SALARY D3250 ($180) month D108 $6 BREAKFAST D6 $0.33 Yogurt, D6 ($0.33) or A bowl of Kellogg�s Corn Flakes with milk, D5 ($0.28) with a banana, D1 ($0.05) or Gambian style breakfast of spicy meat, D4 ($0.22) in a loaf of French bread, D2 ($0.10) NEWSPAPER D5 $0.28 The Daily Observer seems to come out daily with government propaganda. The more unbiased papers, The Point and The Independent, often do not have enough paper or ink to get the paper out daily or sometimes they are �taking a break� until the government has time to review their editorial practices. LUNCH D15 $0.83 Lunch tends to be an expensive meal for Kate. It is very rude to eat in front of others without sharing and most Gambians do not eat lunch during the workday. Most Gambians eat breakfast in the office at 10:30am and then eat again when they get home from work. Because of this, I can not eat at my desk and there is no group �lunch time,� so I have to sneak away to a local restaurant or bitiko. Sample lunch items: Egg omelet with salad D11 Chicken sandwich D14 Local African dish like Chicken Yassa, Benechin or Domoda with rice D20 Boiled egg sandwich with mayonnaise on French bred D6 Food bowl D1-5 (sold out of large pots by women on the street, but it is hard to gauge the amount of pepper so I usually steer clear of this option) For Ben lunch is the cheapest meal of the day, although it�s definitely not the best meal of the day either! I eat at the student cafeteria, which has cheap and cheerful fuel. Before 2 pm, they only seem to have 2 choices: Fish pie (freshly deep fried) D1 Bean sandwich (1/2 baguette with black beans and spicy sauce) D2 After 2 pm they have rice food bowls for D5, but I am too hungry to wait that long! I bring my own water from home, so costs are indeed very low! If I venture outside, the half baguette chicken sandwich is D8 Soda: In a bottle that you must return D4 (and they will chase you down to return it) In a can D5 In a Gambian restaurant D6 In a tourist restaurant D15-20 DINNER (Home Cooked), price per person D15 $0.83 Usually a delectable cabbage stir fry a la Ben Fresh vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, aubergine etc) D10 Supplemented by European and local dry goods (pasta, oil etc) from the supermarkets or local bitticos (corner 7-11 equivalents) D5 TAP WATER �Free� �Free� Lots and lots of tap water DAILY TOTAL FOR ESSENTIALS, PER PERSON: D41 $2.27 OTHER FIXED EXPENSES: RENT D1000 ($56) per month, is split by our employers [D16.67 $0.93] So included here only to make you jealous! UTILITIES Water - estimated to be D 100 per month D1.7 $0.09 Electricity - estimated to be D 100 per month D1.7 $0.09 Mobile phone call charges � Approx D300 per month, or D5 $0.27 Initial mobile phone setup charge, prorated D0.7 $0.05 Cleaning lady, Harriet, D300 per month, she comes 2 D5 $0.27 days per week, and does laundry as well as cleaning! NON FOOD GROCERIES Mosi coils, soap, batteries, toilet paper, etc D5 $0.27 (D300 per month) DAILY TOTAL FOR OTHER FIXED EXPENSES D19 $1.06 DAILY TOTAL SPEND (FOOF & FIXED) D60 $3.33 LEAVING A DAILY CUSHION OF D48 $2.67 You may ask, how do we spend such a generous surplus? Sadly, there are all too many ways to use it up, or blow our meager budget altogether. Here are a few of the best ways we�ve found: TAXI (TOWN TRIP) D12 $0.70 Home from an evening out with friends, depending on how hard we bargain (a trip of about 3-5 kilometers) is D25 However, there are certain defined routes which are a fixed price. The route into Banjul, for instance, is only D4 per person (about a 15-20 ride from near our house). And for us to go to Bakau, a nice market by the sea, its only D3 however far you go on the route. A MEAL OUT AT A RESTAURANT D90 $5.00 It is very hard to eat out for less than this per person, unless one goes to a Gambian fast-food. Most of the establishments catering to tourists are out of our price range except for special occasions. The above includes a main dish and a soft drink. Appetizers and desserts are definitely over the top, as are alcoholic drinks (although beers are only about D9 if bought locally, more at tourist restaurants). WESTERN FOODS FROM SUPERMARKET D100 $5.55 The cheapest bottle of wine we�ve found costs D38, under D55 feels almost affordable. The cheapest proper cheese is about D30 for one quarter of a pound. Likewise half a pound of ground beef. Cookies and potato chips/crisps from the West are D25 and up. ARTS AND CRAFTS FOR TOURISTS depends how hard you bargain It�s best to wait til the tourist season is over (mid May) when the prices drop, but we wanted to decorate our house in the short term as well as have something to take home with us as a souvenir. We�ve bought Batik fabrics to decorate our walls and to use as table clothes, as well as a carved wooden chair. OTHER HOME FURNISHINGS Other housewares we�ve bought recently include a wicker bookcase (D300), 3 plastic prayer mats (D350) to use as carpets, a couch to entertain visitors (D650), and 2 additional metal and plastic chairs (D150). See new pictures of our house featuring these new additions. CLOTHES We plan to have some clothes made locally, but haven�t gotten around to it yet. For D300, apparently one can get a nice dress made, including fabric. Ben bought several dress shirts, 100% cotton, imported from France, for D120 each ($6.67) in the market. As for other items to purchase, it is hard to give you a realistic picture because, although everything is available, the quality is so low it is not even comparable to what we see at home. But on the bright side, very few things cost as much or more here than they do at home, so in that respect we�re lucky! Some additional context for all these figures: We are making the salary of a typical middle level civil servant in The Gambia. However, our employers pay for our housing. So it is really more like a $208/month salary with rent per person of $28/month. Even if we were paying it ourselves, rent is a much lower proportion of our salaries than it would be at home! Our house is about the same size as Kate�s apartment in New York City (note the slight difference in rent, $56/month vs. $2,900/month). The scary thing is that a new family of 8 moved into our compound last week. Their unit is the same size as ours. The family consists of two parents and six children ranging from 2 to 15 years old, three boys and three girls. Can you imagine a typical family of 8+ living on one income of $6 per day? This is not merely hypothetical. The latest census established that the dependency ration in the Gambia is 9:1. That is, for each person working, there are 9 dependents on average to be supported. In addition, there is the extended family system where everyone provides for family members (eg nieces and nephews, cousins etc) who have less so one�s family members are always asking the bread-winner for money, especially if one is perceived to be successful or rich. Not exactly a great incentive to make a bundle. Ending note: Although officially the government says inflation was 4% last year, the reality is much different. It seems to have been more like 35% when you look at the price of goods people actually buy: (a D2 taxi became D3, a D3 coke became D4, and a D50 bag of cement is now D86). The economy is based almost entirely on groundnuts (peanuts), fish and tourism. Almost everything else is imported (including over 42% of food). This explains why the Dalasi is in free fall again the dollar and the pound. Since we have been here (eg in one month), the Dalasi has fallen by 6-8% against the major Western currencies. |
Monday, Feb 18, 2002 Kate got us VIP tickets to the 37th anniversary of the Gambia's Independence from Great Britain. We were sitting in the main section of the National Stadium, on individual chairs, under a sun shade (after 10 pm, when the sun was high enough in the sky to be blocked. We got there about 9:30 AM, and left about 2 pm. For Gambia, it started remarkably on time - only about 30 minutes late. For most of those there, however, this was a long time to be in the sun, and many fainted and had to be carried off by the Red Cross To read what the Observer had to say, click here. The President of Senegal visited and participated, along with the President of the Gambia. In the photos below, President Jammeh of the Gambia is in white, and the Senegalese President is dressed in blue. First there was a parade of arriving dignitaries, including the female vice president, all in humongous SUVs. Then the 2 presidents arrived in their motor-cade. Next there was a review of the military units of the Gambia - the army is only 1000 strong, so we saw representatives from the police force, immigration service, prison guards, and fire departments as well. They did several different marches around the stadium while various military bands played. They ended by firing a salute. The review concluded with the Gambia's one jet fighter flying by the stadium - definitely the crowd's favorite! Next representatives from about 70 local schools and voluntary societies marched by. Finally, President Jammeh delivered his annual speech on Independence day. See the Observer (above) for a synopsis (the accoustics were poor).We met the Army PR officer acting as MC during the first half of the event, so we now have a friend in the Gambian Army who's promised to show us around. You can also see how colorful the other VIPs dressed. Back to Main News Page Back to Our Homepage |
| Double income no kids in The Gambia or How to live on 108 Dalasi (D) / $6 a day |