Odd Bits and Ends

We are heading to Nyanga and Chirundu for the next week, and won't be able to write much. In the meantime, here are a few things that we've experienced:

The Energizer Generator
The Lanes have a generator that they bought in 2007 which basically runs the whole house when there is a power cut. Bob and I did a service on it the other day and saw that it had operated for 1,254 hours since 2007. Given the amount of horsepower that it has, and given that it runs at a constant 3,000 RPMS, Bob guessed that it puts out the same energy that a car would at 50 miles an hour. If that is the case, the generator has driven 62,700 miles: nearly three times around the earth. Go Chinese generators!



American Coins, and American Dollars
Because Zimbabwe’s currency completely crashed in hyper inflation a few years back, Zimbabwe operates entirely on the US dollar. The other day we were shopping for groceries and Mandy gave exact change in US coins to the teller.
“We don’t accept these coins” he said.
“You use American dollars and your telling me that you don’t accept American coins?”
He eventually took the coins, but since many of them have never seen American coins, they don’t trust them. Nor do they know the difference in the coin values. Mandy told me later that they prefer to use South African Rand because while they give us 10 cents to the Rand on our change, it is worth more (like 15 cents in South Africa and elsewhere). When stores collect and distribute Rand for a devalued price here in Zim, they can bank it for a higher values in South Africa and make a higher profit overall. However when they collect American currency, they can’t make the same profit because they operate on the dollar.

The other interesting thing about American money here is that it all looks extremely old and worn when compared to money from the states(see picture). Literally, the cash is limp and almost like damp greasy oil clothe. Take a look at the difference in old and new above. The joke here is that a woman was caught money laundering, and it came out pretty clean!

Wheel Rim Ties
Wheel rims here are zip-tied to the actual wheel frames. The reason is when cars hit so many potholes in the streets, often the wheel rims will fly off and hit people. I had no idea...