money

I have a bit of time today, so here are some pictures that I took this morning on our way to the hospital.


Currency in Malawi is in Kwacha. The current exchange rate is 1.00 US dollar = 170 Kwacha. The money is mostly paper money, and they have bills that are 500 Kwacha, 200 K, 100 K, 50 K, and 20 K. As you can imagine, when we convert 100 US dollars we walk out of the bank with a huge wad of cash. For Americans the exchange rate works in our favor, and for the most part we find things really cheap here. For example, one beer is 50 Kwacha...translation...one beer is .37 US cents...translation...we drink a lot of beer here. I bought 400 yards of fabric for 700 Kwacha = 5 US dollars. There is a woodcarver that comes to Terrie's house and sells his products. He will make anything from salad bowls, to wine goblets, to lamps and much much more. His prices are amazing for our standards (800 K for a nice lamp) and he will also take running shoes as payment. The amount he accepts for the shoes varies on how worn the shoes are. He said that he then gives the shoes to his family and people that work at his wood carving plant. There are some things that are very expensive, and not really worth buying. Cheese can be anywhere from 600 K to 1600 K, so we really don't eat cheese.
What is really interesting is that medical school for one year is 25,000 Kwacha! That translates into 178.85 US dollars a year! And, the government will give out loans to help people pay for medical school...and the loans don't have to be re-paid! But, it is really all relative. Interns in the hospital make 70,000 K a year, which is about 500 US dollars. While interns in the US generally make a little over 40,000 US dollars.
In general, doctors don't make near the amount that they can possibly make in the US. Doctors are respected here, but becoming a doctor is not considered the same great accomplishment as it is in the western world. The really "good" jobs are those that are business-related. Here, students go from secondary school (high school) to medical school. According to Terrie getting in is more to do with grades in high school and luck than it is to do with social class/ economic standing. Grades because they have certain cutoffs that they have to score above in order to be considered for medical school, and luck because once everyone has applied the candidates names are more or less put into a hat and then picked randomly. Then the names of the next years medical school class are announced on the radio for everyone to hear! So different from the way we do it in the US! No interviews and letters of recommendation needed! The way the system is set up, means that getting into medical school should be an equal opportunity for all. The problem is that many of the children from very poor families do not go to high school, instead they will do a few years of elementary school (maybe) and that is it. Such a different system!

Have a good day!