Currency

Living in Africa before ATMs were available, we got used to carrying around a lot of cash.  When we traveled from Brazzaville or Bangui to Impfondo we carried enough cash for 4 months of ministry operation.  It was a big stack of Central African Francs, but some how we managed to fund the work and have enough funds to keep food on the table.  Another challenge in those days was bringing enough butter from the capital city to last us 4 months.

It was a cash economy.  We struggled to have enough small bills and change to buy things like eggs (purchased one at a time from the children that brought them to the door) and papayas.  Among the Americans in Impfondo, there was a race to buy the church offering (almost all in coins) Sunday afternoons.

I am sure that all of this is tied to why I have a collection of cash from many countries.  I don’t have any Central African francs.  When we moved to Senegal we started using West African Francs.  You can see two of those in the picture.  I have worked in Senegal each of the last 4 years.  I want some cash in my pocket for when I arrive (usually late a night or early in the morning) to pay for cab fare and breakfast.  Amet once took me to Mauritania.  I needed some Euros for the visa.  The ones in the picture are from that trip.  I will use them someday. 

With inflation, my Argentinian pesos are worth one half of what they were worth when I bought them.  I have colleagues that would have given them away to friends just before leaving the country.  In my experience, when you give away all your money or food before traveling, an unforeseen need will come up (such as a travel delay) and you will regret the gift.

When I was in Mexico, the peso was strong.  I have 2 bills left over from that trip.  My 5 million dollar bill (Zimbabwe dollar) isn’t in the picture.  You will have to visit the “Congo Museum” to see it.  The seller told me that he was running out of them so he could only offer me 1, for 2 US dollars. 

There is some South African Rands in the picture left over from a trip in 2017.  Since then my work in India has obliged me to keep some Indian rupees in my collection.  On a trip to Nepal we got some rupees to buy tourist stuff, but ended up on the side of the game park which had nothing for sale.  If you are planning a trip to Nepal, let me know if you want to do some currency exchange.