Wheelbarrows – Versatile & Convenient

Sally, Liberia would be a haven for you.  Every time I remember digging through the bins at the Goodwill outlet in Hernando, I then flash-forward to myself digging through a wheelbarrow for whatever it is I am buying that day. 

For those of you who are not my sister, here’s an update.  Anything that you want to buy in the market that is not tomato paste, onions, sugar, rice, or beans is found in a wheelbarrow.  In fact, I’m guessing there are more wheelbarrows per capita here than in the United States.  Everyone uses one, whether it is for hauling their goods to the market to sell, pushing one around selling pepper/peanuts/palm oil/footballs and mirrors around town, hauling jugs of water from the well to their house, or filling it full of dirt and hauling it to a construction site, wheelbarrows are a normal site in Liberia.

While in Monrovia, we made sure to check out Waterside Market, the biggest market in the capital city.  There, we were crazy people, digging through wheelbarrows as fast as we could – buying t-shirts, tank tops, skirts, pants, whatever we could find, really.  The sellers are excited to sell their goods, obviously, and they will do all they can to help you out.  If they see you digging through, they will start showing you items that are your size or close to it.  If you tell them you need long skirts for teaching, they will dig through the pile of skirts, showing you all the long ones they have. At the end of the day, these guys and gals know what they have to do to close a deal. 

Emmanuel, a student in 10B, with his wheelbarrow.

I’m grateful for all the wheelbarrow sellers in town.  Some of our favorites in Pleebo include the guy we buy our clothes-washing soap from (all we do is walk up to his barrow and he gets two bars of soap, in a bag for us, ready to go), the boys who sell oranges for cheap out of a wheelbarrow, and the guys who sell hangers (which I need more of, now that I’m going to be getting more things made of lappa).  All in all, it makes shopping fun.  It’s portable, convenient, and easily covered when it rains – what else could be better in the world of markets?