The cedi and the pesewa take the place of the dollar and the cent in Ghanaian currency, and are worth about 70% of their American counterparts at present. The funny thing about the cedi is that two years ago, Ghana’s government took four zeros off its bills, turning a 10,000-cedi bill into a 1-cedi bill. The populace has had a hard time making this adjustment, and it’s not uncommon to ask what something costs and be told “3,000.” Ah, that would be 3,000 units of the old currency, which would translate into 30 pesewas of the new money…or about 21 cents.
Last week I was getting a price quote for a friend, and was told that depending on the materials used, the cost would be “between 400 and 600.” Between $280 and $420, I made the quick mental calculation – ouch! Thank the Lord for a friend who was walking with me that day and saw my expression. “That’s 400,000 to 600,000,” he clarified: 40-60 new cedis, or $28-$42. MUCH more reasonable!
I tell you, between this kind of math and the language skills, there’s no hope of mental atrophy. =D Thanks for your prayers as I continue to struggle with the language acquisition – such an important endeavor, and such a challenging one for me!
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Okay, fellow readers of this amazing blog; this is just sad - Leah is living an ocean away from home, writing excellent updates, and getting almost NO COMMENTS!!!?!!?!!! Let's do something about this, shall we?
ReplyDeleteEven if you're corresponding with her in some other way, there's no such thing as too much encouragement; and everyone loves to get feedback and hear from folks at home!
Hi-ho, let's go! Eh, Team? ;-)