Well, I have so much to share from the past week, but I just got back from a successful trip to purchase fabric and I had to tell someone.
One of the challenges when purchasing most things in Kenya is that you never know when you are being ripped off. As a mzungu (white person) you are perceived as having a lot of money. I don't disagree that I have more than most Kenyans, but it doesn't mean that I want to be taken advantage of. Last week, I paid WAY TOO MUCH for a some fabric that I bought to be used on some NEEMA projects. Joyce, the seamstress shared with me some fair prices and told me where to go to find some good fabric that I was looking for. Well, last week I went to that shop and was so disappointed when the guy was giving me prices that were almost twice as much as what she wanted to pay. I told the guy that I really wanted to purchase a lot of fabric from him but that I was not willing to buy from him if he was going to be unfair with his prices. (For the record: I am willing to pay higher amounts than the Kenyans pay, but I have some limits.) I told him I would find out what was fair from my Kenyan friend and I would be back another day.
Well, today I headed to town.....determined to get fabric at a fair price. I had all the numbers in my head:
1000-1200 kenya shillings for 6 meters of kitenge cotton
200 kenya shillings for the softy lining
I arrived in the shop and began having the young kenyan man pull things down for me. When I asked for the price he spoke with another man in swahili and said, "for her 1300". It was for 8 meters of mixed fabric, so I agreed. He then pulled another type of fabric down and told me it would be 800 shillings (that was better than what I expected). I purchased 52 meters of fabric and when I added the amounts in my head I thought my total would be 8150 kenya shillings which is around $105. When I got the register the man at the counter began giving me totally different prices...EVEN LOWER THAN I HAD BEEN TOLD WHEN PICKING THEM OUT!!!!! When he added the total of all my fabric, 46 METERS worth, he told me that my total was 5550 shillings. That is $72 US DOLLARS!!!!
I was so pleased that I told him I would be back again next week to purchase more. I thanked him for giving me good prices and left with a huge grin on my face!!!
