"Many people believe (myself included once) that living in a third world country is cheap. How wrong they are. Especially in Zambia, because it is landlocked and everything must be imported, prices are high. When I first arrived here in July 2005 the exchange rate was 5,200K to every US dollar. This was good and we were able to live without spending an arm and a leg for things. Now, due to political competition and the World Relief Bank, the exchange rate is 2,910K for every US dollar. Now you might be saying...you still get almost three times as much then you would have in the states. That is true, but you must take into consideration the cost of things. Some things we can get much cheaper than the states but the majority of things we deem as necessities are very expensive. This problem has been compounded by the rise in prices in food and diesel. Let me give you some examples:
1 gallon of milk = $7.10
1 gallon of diesel = $6.00
1 block of cheese = $6.70
1 box of cereal = $8.00
1 black printer cartridge = $85.00
This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many things we can't even get here, and the ones we can we can't afford. A local newspaper just printed an article that said a family of 6 needed 1,650,000K per month for food. That's $550.00. That doesn't include rent, clothing, school fees, or medical bills. The majority of people in this country make less than $1.00 per day. "
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