Private Toilets and cell telephones

I went back and read the first posts I made from Malawi on June 14 (the day of my arrival) and June 15 (my first full day). The idea being that I wanted to compare what I wrote in my blog for those two days with hand written entries in the small journal that I carried around with me in Malawi. The idea behind this exercise is to provide new fodder for my blog.

You may recall that the first order of business on June 15 was to an open air market in Lilongwe. One thing I did not write about were, what at first glance appeared to be, public toilets. If I recall, these toilets were located just outside the entrance to the market. Given my interest in clean water and sanitation, I was quite interested in finding more about these toilets, so I asked Luzu. He told me that yes, these were flush toilets, and that people had to pay to use them. He went on to explain that the reason there is a fee to use the toilets is because if no fee is charged then the toilets fall into to disrepair. The fees cover, among other things, the cost of maintaining the facilities. I intended to go back to the market and see this facility close-up, paying the fee to do so. I never made it back.

In my early entries from Malawi, I listed my observations while riding in the van So, I have written about the many roadside stalls that I saw during our travels. By the end of our trip, they were a routine sight. People selling goods ranging from cell phone minutes to mice on a stick to vegetables to hand made furniture to coffins. On that first drive from the airport to Wendels, I noticed that a large number of small booths (or kiosks) with signage saying “celltel” or something similar. If memory serves, “celltel” is one of the cellular providers in Malawi. People at these booths had cellular telephones, selling time to individuals who wanted to place a call. In addition, some of these booths sold what are known as sim cards.

Unlike my cellular telephone that I can only use with a specific cellular carrier, unlocked cellular telephones can be purchased which can be used with a variety of cellular carriers. Activating an unlocked cell phone involves purchasing something called a sim card that contains a certain amount of airtime. When the airtime is used up, you purchase another sim card. The use of sim cards seems commonplace in Malawi. Americans can purchase an “unlocked cell phone” in Malawi at a much lower cost than in the U.S. However, to a Malawian, even a phone that is inexpensive to an American is going to be quite expensive. The cost of a cell telephone could explain the apparent popularity of “celtel” booths, especially around the cities and larger towns. If a Malawian could not afford one a cell phone, the “celltel” booths provided an opportunity to place a call. I never did find out what people charged for the use of their cell phone. My unanswered question is could a Malawian of average means, which probably means they are extremely poor, easily afford to purchase a couple of minutes of cell phone time at a “celltel” booth?