Shaun’s Blog

Living on a Dollar a Day in Malawi

May 7th, 2007 by Shaun

Malawi is one of poorest countries in the world, and according to NPR.org, more than half of the population lives off less than £0.50/$1.00 per day. That’s 127 Malawian Kwacha.

A goon from The Something Awful Forums started a thread entitled Eating on a Dollar per Day, stating him and his room mate are going to live for a dollar a day for a month too taking advice from fellow goons on what to buy and what not to.

Because prices in Malawi are so low, and prices in the USA are lower than that of the UK, I kinda assumed it’s £1 a day in English exchange and tax prices and that got me thinking how we are so wasteful.

I think nothing of going into a shop and paying £1 for a pasty to “keep me going” until my evening meal. This is the entire daily budget for somebody living in Malawi or a poor part of the USA.

The Day’s Accounting
The daily balance sheet for the Phiri family:

Income
Cotton: $0.07/£0.04
Donations: $0.63/£0.32
Tomatoes: $0.01/£0.01
Bike taxi: $0.09/£0.05
Goats: $0.10/£0.05
Sugar cane: $0.04/£0.02
TOTAL: $0.94/£0.47

Expenses
Maize flour: $0.45/£0.23
Soap: $0.04/£0.02
Salt: $0.02/£0.01
School fees: $0.10/£0.05
Clothes: $0.08/£0.04
Paraffin (for lamps): $0.17/£0.09
Fertilizer: $0.04/£0.02
Fish: 35
TOTAL: $1.25/£0.63

How would you budget if you were given $30/£30 and told to make it last a month in your city?
I would get:

£1.00	Months supply of multi-vitamin
£2.00	2 x 3KG bags of pasta
£0.50	Salt
£1.00	Various spices
£5.00	Various budget chicken cuts
£2.00	Bananas and Apples
£3.00	3 x 1KB bags of brown rice
£1.00	Jar of peanut butter

£2.00	Cheap musli type cereal
£1.50	Plenty of powdered milk mix
£2.88	36 x Packets of ramen noodles
£6.00	Freakin’ huge sack of potatoes
£1.00	Few large cabbages
£0.30	Large bar of cheap chocolate
£0.80	A crapload of boullion for either seasoning or making soup.

Opinions? Responses? Opinions?

Please donate to Malawi via Unicef by clicking the “Donate Now” button on the following URL:
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi.html

africa, aid, charity, donate, food, goon, malawi, poorest countries in the world, somethingawful

Posted in University, General |

5 Responses to “Living on a Dollar a Day in Malawi”

on 07 May 2007 at 2:47 am Duncan
Using Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP
Not to poke holes in your spending..

But water for making the soup? water for boiling the potates? water for cooking the rice and pasta?
Water for mixing the milk mix?
Fuel for heating the water and food?

It does open the eyes to how frugal these people live. I would NOT want to swap places with them, call me shallow but I am very happy about the “Them and Us” situation, i’m quite thankfull now I think about it that I was born in the contry I was.

Perhaps they can market their skills as “Frugal Living Consultants” to other such poor contrys, or people in bransholm with financial problems?
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on 07 May 2007 at 2:50 am Shaun
Using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.3 on Windows XP
I should have mentioned in my post that I didn’t include water as a source of outgoing because I was basing it on living as I am now, where I am now, with their budget. I should’ve included water but that’s given free via wells from various charities that pay for these to be installed.

It’s amazing how we live and how much we actually take for granted.
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on 08 May 2007 at 10:14 am Gareth
Using Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP
Well when I was at college, i was to lazy to get a job and was living on £30 a week, I found this hard but it really did help in my money skills, I think I’d be able to live off £30 a month but it would be hard going if you think about it. I mean alot of people are used to earning that a day and only just cope with life. But it is possible just.

We should all just be greatful we can live as we do and spare a thought to those in need.

Gareth
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on 08 May 2007 at 9:35 pm Victor Kaonga
Using Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP
But the problem is that life in Malawi is not only defined by the dollar. There is much more that defines life. I am Malawian and have grown up in those circumstances. Part of the reason why you see big differences (and I agree you cannot live like a Malawian!) is becuase in the west, you monetise everything. Not everything people eat comes from a shop or paid for in some cent terms. One thing you did not point out is that Malawians are happy and joyfull in spite of these circumstances. Ever wondered why? With all the dollars elsewhere, I notice there is lot of misery which many don’t want admit. Should living just be defined by the dollar? Ever heard of Malawi’s indegenous economics?
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on 08 May 2007 at 9:54 pm Shaun
Using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.3 on Windows XP
Victor Kaonga on May 8, 2007 at 9:35 pm said:

But the problem is that life in Malawi is not only defined by the dollar. There is much more that defines life. I am Malawian and have grown up in those circumstances. Part of the reason why you see big differences (and I agree you cannot live like a Malawian!) is becuase in the west, you monetise everything. Not everything people eat comes from a shop or paid for in some cent terms. One thing you did not point out is that Malawians are happy and joyfull in spite of these circumstances. Ever wondered why? With all the dollars elsewhere, I notice there is lot of misery which many don’t want admit. Should living just be defined by the dollar? Ever heard of Malawi’s indegenous economics?

Thanks for your unique input Victor. I agree that we monetize everything and didn’t mean any disrespect comparing Malawi and England as far as prices, food or living.

I’m happy that the people of Malawi are happy and realize I just wanted to note key differences between cultures and how we take everything for granted. Everything.
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