Monday, September 21, 2009

Chimala Market, part 2

Used clothes from the U.S. are sent to Africa in big bundles. Africans will buy the bundles and then sell the clothes at markets such as this one in Chimala. We saw such bundles in Uganda, too, several years ago.

It was really interesting to us when we saw two t-shirts from the Metroplex area----one from a Keller school and one from a Mansfield elementary school! Maybe some of your clothing donations to various organizations have ended up in Africa!

There were also many t-shirts with American sports teams' logos. We were told that many times manufacturers make up shirts before big games, and then if a particular team loses the game, the shirts do not sell well. Those unsold shirts are shipped to African countries.







Many of the clothes for sale were lying out on the ground.




What color of men's pants do you like?




Tools for sale



The following man was holding up a list of medical problems with the corresponding remedies. You will see the remedies in some of the next photos!


Menard told us that this man is the "witch doctor". After we took his picture, he followed us wanting some money for letting us take his picture!



The next photos show the medicines. Which ones do you want to take?








I'm not sure how much benefit shoe shines are on the dirt paths and roads!








Someone must be cooking lunch!





Debbie E., Jan, Menard, and Muriel



Bananas for sale


We really enjoyed going to the market, even though it was a very busy, crowded place. It was neat to visit the local market that tourists would not normally get to see.

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