Afri-Crap

I affectionately call all of the trinkets and things I have collected from nearly 10 years of traveling in Africa, Afri-Crap. This term is shared among several friends and colleagues who also have a shopping addiction and a love of the continent.  I have loads of masks, baskets, statues, elephants, along with one set of unbalanced giraffes and many other random things. My house is full of the stuff, so by default, that has become the theme in most of the rooms.  It's a little weird now that I am living in Congo and my apartment is filled with all of the Afri-Crap I have acquired over the years. I am sure some people think I just bought a bunch of stuff from World Market and Home Goods for my big trip to Africa! Little do they know,  I bargained with a crazy street merchant over $3 for a cock-eyed wooden elephant in Banjul, The Gambia (it's a country, for realz). 

The craft market in Kinshasa is known as the, "Marche des Voleurs," or thieves market. And yes, it is. The price for Afri-Crap in Congo is way above market value. The influx of international NGO's and the giant UN peacekeeping mission here drove the prices for Afri-Crap way up, and coupled with the Congolese penchant for eat today, worry about eating tomorrow, tomorrow, the merchants have no shame and will give you price of $50 for a lopsided wooden okapi.  Usually you can bargain them down to a more reasonable price, but some really tug at your heart strings with lines like, "I guess I won't be eating today," or, "You killed my people" (i.e. so you deserved to be ripped off). The other day at the market I was looking at a handmade doll with a colorful, ruffled dress on. It was not much different than a Cabbage Patch Kid, although it was handmade and therefore had a bit more character perhaps. The merchant said $40, last price. I walked. And he didn't chase me down. Rare. Normally, walking away is enough to get the sellers to lower their prices. Not this time. This guy stuck to his guns, and so did I. Perhaps we both lost. 

I love my Afri-Crap though. And one day, when I get a kid, the kid will have to respect the Afri-Crap because I don't believe in baby-proofing. I mean, I'll put those little plastic covers on the light sockets.