Dilemmas
The price of food is rising. Obviously there is inflation to take into consideration but food is rising beyond that. I was recently talking to someone who just returned to Mozambique after four years absence. She commented how expensive food is. We have friends who regularly go grocery shopping for basic groceries across the border in Nelspruit because it is cheaper. I know food prices in the States have risen since I last lived there. I wonder how the prices compare.

In some ways, food is cheap here. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are not expensive. Oranges are in season and I can buy an orange, depending on the fruit seller for 5 meticais ($0.16 USD = 6 oranges for $1). Or a handful of green beans for 10 meticais ($0.32 USD). But, like I said, prices are rising. When we first arrived in Mozambique, I bought eggs for 3 meticais an egg (at that time $0.12 USD = 36 meticais/dozen = $1.44 USD/dozen). Now I pay 70 meticais ($2.33 USD) for a dozen eggs or 6 meticais for an individual egg ($0.20 USD).

We're going to South Africa this week for some MCC business. I am tempted to do some grocery shopping for things that I can get in Mozambique. Normally, I would look for things that I cannot buy in Moz. But this week, thinking about my budget, I wonder about buying things that are available in Moz but are cheaper in South Africa. Perhaps, I am over processing. But one of the things that seems to be an unsaid value in MCC (and that I believe) is trying to support the local economy. In the grand scheme of life, whether or not I do some regular grocery shopping in South Africa won't matter. But it takes me a step away from being present in Mozambique.