Senga Bay, Malawi
Photo by Todd Monge
Camping at Senga Bay, Malawi — November 15, 1998
It was mango season when we were in Malawi. People were lining the roads selling tons and tons of beautifully ripe and tasty mangos. The going muzungu rate was around 90¢ for a bag of about 35 mangos. Not a bad price. It was at Senga Bay though, that my 8-mango a day habit began to bore me. I don’t think I could have eaten another. About this time a gang of mango-selling youth approached me at this camp pictured above. They had a ginormous bag of mangos and asked me to buy them. Thrilled about the rock-bottom prices, I began to negotiate for the muzungu price of about 35 kwatcha for the bag. In the middle of the negotiations, I realized these mangos would go to waste if I bought them. There were too many; I opted out. The kids became upset. One of them, in a moment of coercive ingenuity said, “If you don’t buy our mangoes, we’ll break your windshield tonight!” He pointed to Breakfast. And there you have it; the story of how a one dollar investment in a bag of mangos saved Breakfast’s windy.