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How much?…

jacquelineobyikocha

Haggling is an art! To live in an African society with it’s rowdy markets, you need to perfect the art of haggling over goods.African proverb 5

Recollections of days spent traipsing after mother or grandma at the market, trudging from pillar to post haggling over goods in order to get the best bargains makes me smile.

It was never a straight journey!

Purchases were made in-between hundreds of greeting exchanges.

These grown women would hug, chatter, ask about the entire family and their well-being, exclaim over the incessant climb in the price of goods, natter about the latest African prints fabric, discuss their next meetings and what have you, while you stood patiently with the basket waiting for that conversation to be over, only for another encounter of another auntie to occur down the line where yam tubers were sold.

The haggling dance between the seller and the buyer was one done in camaraderie.

A piece of yam tuber would be lifted, passed from the buyers one hand to the other to check how weighty, inspected to ensure that it was still fresh and when mother was satisfied with the selected yam piece, the pricing war begins with “how much?”

This could go on from one market stall to the other and the basket on your head got heavier with the items purchased.

On a good day, your assistance would be rewarded with some boiled groundnuts, fried puff-puffs or something little to nibble at.

Please do remember not to grumble when the haggling is going on otherwise, you might be rewarded with a proverb that says “a child carried on the back, does not realize that the journey is very far.”

For today’s quote, I shall leave you with these African proverbs:

“Life is like shopping in the market, when you finish your purchases, you go home.”

”One does not throw stones in the market square, because you don’t know whose head it might break.”

”Marriage is like eating groundnuts in pods! You have to crack it to see what is inside.”

I have totally enjoyed reminiscing over these proverbs for the past couple of days Oba all thanks to you.

I invite these awesome bloggers to feel free and share some quotes:Africa-travel-quote

Gradmama

Haddon Musings

Adamma

Blessed love.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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Published by jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.

32 thoughts on “How much?…”

  2. Beautiful story! 🙂 ❤ Growing up in a small town, haggling existed to some degree. As I started working retail, I never really noticed it at first but as I moved to bigger cities with more cultural diversity, such as Vancouver where I live now, commercial retail is a whole different ball game! Lol many cultures seem to love the art of haggling and they like you more if you join in lol even the tiniest deals were enough to win respect. If a shirt in my store was already on sale for 5 bucks you could bet I was gonna bend the rules…just for them and give them 4.99 lol and sometimes if I really liked the person 4.98 😉 I'll be honest, I never understood it at first. It infuriated me! Lol I was brought up in a world where the price was the price and most times we couldn't afford it anyway lol…but once I understood more what it meant to haggle it became easier,fun and rewarding! Except in Cancun, lol one guy called me a cheap Canadian. There was a dress I wanted and it was 30 bucks and I wanted it for 25…he refused not willing to budge so I was like OK I don't get this game I'm leaving lol so I walked away to see if I could find something else…He yelled after me " You cheap Canadian!" lol I like yeah still walkin buddy…found the exact same dress at a shop nearby and she was only asking for 20 so I gave her 25 lol and when I made my rounds and passed the original stand where I found the dress that same guy was like "Ok ok I'll give you 25" and I said too late you called me a cheap Canadian I found another dress…Phew! Yeah that was quite a flashback there! lol Thanks as always for your wonderful words! 🙂 ❤

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      2. That experience happened to me in the early 90’s on a beach that had a lot of foreigners. The man was really was really upset with me.

        I think in the stores in India everything is priced, there is no haggling. Haggling occurred with people that sold things on the street/beach if I remember right.

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      6. I was clueless and overwhelmed…bad enough I can’t handle doing groceries without freaking out lol I was in over my head at that maketplace

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      8. My fiance warned me too as he had been to Mexico multiple times…this was my first time out of the country ever and that was only 3 years ago lol

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    3. Oh, I would like to visit Vancouver. It sounds so posh to me. That guy was such a rude fellow and shouldn’t be in trading. The art of trading is to know how to convince your customer to part with their money happily. Not sure he will make too much with that kind of attitude. I would equally rub is nose into it by passing him as well and slowly too Lol! Do have yourself a beautiful weekend.

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  5. Ah ha, I knew haggling on my home base (Caribbean) came from our African ancestry. Girl, these grown folks can sure talk when negotiating their food prices. If a child grumble or try to roll my eyes, the market scene would stop. Lol, thank you for evoking those memories.

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  8. Thanks so much for sharing this…really beautiful :). It took me a little down memory lane too…all the way back home to Jamaica, where I use to enjoy going to the market with my mom as a little girl (though I had to keep up), as the market brought out an animated side to her, that was worth watching and learning. Gosh…you should see her doing her thing, while greeting family and friends, without missing a beat. Now when look back at it in hindsight…I think that is where I picked up my negotiating skills girly because I never miss a chance to negotiate…I learnt a lot of those small important things from her when she was alive. Hope your sister is doing well, with the new baby, as well as, you and family. Peace to you.

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    1. We learn so much subconsciously from our parents without knowing it. Our mothers knew how to do these things negotiating things with style 😉 My sister and her baby are doing well, thank you so much for asking. I so appreciate that 🙂 Your negotiation skills are in your DNA girl. You can’t run away from it 😉

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I love it when you decorate my heart with your words..