Salaula

 I didn’t grow up wearing random people’s clothing. 

Sometimes my older sisters clothes, (hand-me-downs) 

but not everything and certainly not all the time.

We were blessed to be able to have new clothes basically whenever we needed or even wanted them. 

When we just were starting out having our own kids, we were given some baby clothes, which I used for the kids, but still the majority was new clothes or older sibling clothes still in good condition. 

As a young mother, I remember some people portrayed shopping at goodwill as “more holy”.  So I tried it, I mean who wouldn’t want to be “more holy” if thats all it took?  But alas I just couldn’t. And I will tell you the secret I learned, it doesn’t make you any better of a person. Not one little bit. It can even make you proud because you DO shop at Goodwill. Crazy I know.

But, Why didn’t it work for me? 

The store always smelled bad, things were so disorganized and just seemingly thrown together and I never really found anything that “great” or  worth all the effort to search.  

So what I did was shop the sales, and in general clothes don’t cost that much in America and relied on grandparents spoiling the kids with a nice new dress for the holiday or a package sent with something new for each child. And it worked. Our family grew and then our kids did the hand-me-down thing. Big boxes of clothes stored for the next child to use them as needed, and having all the kids within a relatively short span, many of the outfits were still in style for the little kids. 

However many times along the way when we used to be a “pastors family” we were given clothes, not really asked if we needed them but just given them. The random garbage bag handed to us after church.  hmmm...I will never forget one “bag of clothes” that had several pairs of little boy underwear in it. And I will just say even with hand-me-downs I ALWAYS drew the line even back then on used undergarments, I just had to. But this one “donor” said, oh and don’t worry all the underwear in the bag just has mud stains from the boys playing out in the mud....WHAT???   

I felt a bit mortified and struggling to feel appreciative. Because many times it was a blessing to receive clothes, and of course I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. But really?

So fast forward 10 years. My kids grow out of their clothing and guess where it goes? 

In black garbage bags to donate. 

We usually have two bags, one to donate to the kids in Kabanana, or to a family in poverty that we know and one bag to “throw away”. Clothes with rips, stains--food or grass stains that is!, buttons missing, zippers broke etc. And I take that bag and tell Catherine (our maid) “these clothes are finished” and show the holes and stains and rips. Then I set them aside. And she knows that if she can use them she can have them. But it is a bit of an unspoken, yet slightly awkward thing. I don’t want to assume that she wants our old and discarded clothes. But almost every time she does. And yet I wouldn’t want to throw them directly into the trash because that is wasteful. But I also don’t want to donate those to the kids in Kabanana. Just because they are poor, it doesn’t mean that they should have to wear shabby ripped up clothing. So every few months we do the garbage bag thing. 

Then the kids or James and I need more clothes so we do the Salaula thing. 

The open air market of used clothing on the street. 

Isn’t that Ironic. 

But maybe more ironic, is that I enjoy it. 

And that it is even more disorganized and chaotic and smelly then Goodwill every was. And it takes much more time to pilfer through pile after pile of clothing.

And it is a test of patience. That you will even find what you are looking for.

And of trust that when they see you they won’t raise the price, or that you won’t get money stolen from you as you walk through. 

You certainly have to be in the mood to Salaula. If you are not, it is just hot, dusty, way too crowded, noisy and everything that can be “cool” and “neat”  just becomes aggravating and frustrating. 

There are 2 places I go. One is in a market near the house and the other is in town. 

The market near the house on a few occasions I have taken my kids with me. Usually to buy shoes sometimes, or let them pick out what kinds of clothes they like. But generally it works best if I just know what they like then come home with something. They have proper stalls there, of wood and black plastic (kind of like garbage bags) covering the stalls and the extra clothing that is not hung up on makeshift hangers is spread out on a table in a pile to look through. 

Town is a whole different story. I don’t take the kids there. It is too busy and I am doing well to keep my hand on my purse and my “game on, don’t even think about messing with me, ignore whatever rude comments are made and keep walking” face. It generally works well. Even within town there are several levels to it so I always stay on the “right side” of the road for a muzungu. 

The used clothing come in bales, sent from places including the US, UK and China. Then people buy the bales to sell. (My one issue here is that I think many of these used clothes are “donated to Africa”  but then once they arrive they are sold. Sold to others to produce an income for themselves so that part is good at least but still seems a bit iffy). 

The bales are categorized. Children clothes. Ladies skirts. Sweaters. Swimwear.Undergarments.Jeans.Towels.Sheets.Trousers.Dresses and on and on.

So each seller basically opens up their bale of used clothing dumps it on the palette or the ground that has been covered with a tarp or mealie sack and then people come and start picking through it.  Whenever a bale is opened there is a huge group standing around waiting. The people are wanting to grab up the best items to then take and resell for a higher price themselves, or just wanting the best shirt or skirt, whatever- as the buyer. The seller often stands or sits in the midst of all the clothes throwing out them here and there for people to look at. 

So when you are shopping there, you weave in and out of the constant flow of people walking and shopping themselves, dodging the occasional car. I stop and look through then move on. Since we have been shopping this way for a few years now, I am getting better at figuring out the piles after picking up just one or two items. I can now spot the chinese clothing based on the style,(um how do you describe some of those styles?!?! )  and the feel of the fabric (cheap) and the sizing (too small for this girl!).

And I know the piles from the USA. If I see 2 or 3 recognizable labels American Eagle, Old Navy, Abercrombie, Merona, etc I know I have found a good pile and then I take time to look through some of it. I don’t know how many American Eagle t-shirts I have bought in the last 2 years, they are very popular to get rid of it seems. Sometimes the items are pretty random, some small town baseball teams jerseys, a family reunion with pictures of family members on it, etc. 

So the good thing is you can find some great deals. I mean great! If you are in to that kind of thing, which I totally understand if you are not.  So today I went into town.

And I bought a sweater for 3 kwacha. A name brand sweater for 50cents. And it looked good. Then I bought a few things for the kids which are usually easier to find and then I stood at a pile that was just being opened. I had never done that before but as I was saying I was in the “mood”. I stood for about 10 minutes watching, picking up a few items here and there and then found one shirt. The man had been shouting out 15kwacha, 15 kwacha, 15 kwacha for the entire time I was standing there. Just over and over, very loudly. When I decided I only wanted the one item I handed my 20 kwacha to get change and then he told me there was no change because it was 20 kwacha. And I immediately became UN, in the “mood”. I argued back, you only have said 15 the entire time and then the woman working there said, no its 15 and 20. Some are 20 some are 15. I was clearly irritated and then a woman next to me said thats not right and I said I know! I waited a minute and saw he wasn’t budging and though I should have thrown the shirt back and gotten my money I just walked away, very mad. 

My shopping was done for the day. Probably be a few months before I venture back out.  It was less than a dollar difference $3.75 instead of $2.50 but it was the principle that bothered me! Oh well. And then I got the shirt home and tried it on and it didn’t quite fit right.  Which might mean I have to advance to the next level and that is trying on the clothing there in the middle of town. Over my clothes of course, but I always find it looks silly as I am driving by and see a woman trying on a bra over her clothing, or slipping a skirt underneath her chitenge to try on. So please call me on it if you ever see me doing that! Occasionally I have tried a dress on, at the stalls that are enclosed but don’t really want to make a habit of it. I think I rather waste $3 then make even more of a spectacle than I already am walking through town. 

Every so often we do buy new clothes at the stores here in the mall. The clothing is a lot more than what it is in the states and the quality on many is not great. The ones that are decent quality, like Woolworths and Foschini (my favorite!) are pretty expensive but very nice when its a birthday or christmas or they are having a great end of season sale. 

But the VERY exciting thing is that we have had grandparents buying clothes for the kids and us, and my husband has been shopping in America for the last week, which means that we all are getting something new and obviously in style in just a few days. 

Kind of makes you feel like Laura Ingalls driving into town getting a “store bought” instead of handmade dress!  In our case “Brand new” instead of “used” clothing! 

Pictures to follow!