Street Vendors

Welcome to Malawi - where there are many people on the streets hoping to see you the crafts that they make: necklaces, bracelets, cards, pens, paintings - you name it, they have it. Of course, because I’m white, several of these people are always trying to get me to buy their products. Half of the time, they’ve seen Laurel and I walking to the hotel with our students for swimming class, so they don’t try to get us to buy in the mornings if they see us. Afternoons are another story. Some guys will follow you down the street for several blocks, making conversation, pushing their necklace collection in your face, trying to get you to stop of buy something. Some won’t be quite as pushy. Others aren’t pushy at all. Some are desperate for you to buy something, anything from them, and start talking about how they have no money for food. I struggle with this one. What if they don’t actually have money for food? One man didn’t want to let me leave with just one item. One man was happy with me buying one carved pen and said “God bless” as I left. But there is this one man who is my absolute favorite. Winston sells paintings that are actually quite nice. He had asked if we wanted to buy paintings the first few times he saw us with the students, but then, like the others, learned that if we have the kids with us, we can’t buy anything. 

The next time he asked me was when I was walking down to a small store to buy a few staple kitchen items. He saw me and asked, “Madam, you don’t have the students with you today. Can I show you my paintings?” I told him that if he waited for me to finish in the store first, I would look at them. He waited for me, and I looked at his paintings. He didn’t give me any sob stories about how he had no money, but instead thanked me for my support after buying one of his paintings. People here would probably say that I paid a lot for his painting, and I probably did. I didn’t try to bargain the price down much. But that was okay with me, because he was respectful.

Now, when I’m walking down the street, I look for Winston. I saw him the other day, with one of the other guys who is a little more pushy with his items. Winston didn’t even ask me to look at his paintings. I bought a few things from the other guy, and before I headed on my way, asked Winston if I could look at his paintings when I came back. He said he would wait for me and I walked away to do my errands. When I came back an hour later, he was still waiting for me. I bought two paintings from him them, for a great price because I am “such a good customer.” Then he gave me a gift painting. 

Whenever I walk down one particular section of road, I seem to always hear, “Hello teacher!” from one of these guys. They are all super nice, and they are all my friends. But Winston is the only one I know by name, and I never try to bargain down his prices too much. I love the people of Malawi.

Sidenote: It’s always interesting to buy from one man when others are in sight. If you buy something from one, you’re definitely going to buy something from another, right? Most of the time I don’t buy, but when I do….