So last week my neighbor Alison decided it was time for me to visit the fabric market. The fabric sold here is very unique – it’s all brightly colored and has wax in it. They call it chitenge. I had been hearing about this massive fabric market for weeks and was eager to go.
We took one of Alison’s staff members with us to help us find it. Good thing because we never would have found it on our own. We entered this really sketchy unmarked door, then went into this dark alleyway that was so narrow you had to move to the side to let someone pass. To one side was a concrete wall, the other way held tables and tables of brightly colored fabric. There was a lot of pestering and one woman even got mad that we bought from her neighbor and not her.
Alison has used the fabric all over her home for tablecloths, runners, pillows, etc. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to cover yet, so I just went with one beautiful selection that I’m going to have turned into a skirt or dress. You can see the fabric I chose in the photo above. It was a steal of a deal – 4 meters for $5! There are loads of great tailors in town who will come to your house and either sew there if you have a machine or just take measurements and sew back at their shops.
We got through fabric shopping fairly quickly and decided that we should make a stop at the other big market, the fruit and vegetable one. I’m going to apologize in advance for the horrible photos, but I was so mobbed by people the ENTIRE TIME that I couldn’t even get any shots off. It was insanity.
 First of all, there were crazy sights to behold like giant walls of cabbage!
And beautiful stacks of potatoes…
We were the only Caucasian people in the market as far as I could see and boy did the vendors flock to us. Being an old pro at this, Alison was an expert at managing the chaos. I didn’t fare so well. I got way overwhelmed by all the people in my personal space and just kept backing away. At one point I backed into a wall and looked around me to see an entire semi-circle of vendors surrounding me, shoving fruits and vegetables in my face.
It was totally and completely exhausting and very unlike my other experiences with Malawians. Never again. Not to mention that Mzungus (white people) get the worst prices ever. Much more cost-effective to send my household staff in the future.
The whole experience surprised me because there has been little to no begging here, no pushy sellers on the roads and no harassment when walking by people. Granted, it is a market, but I just wasn’t expecting to be accosted given what I’d seen of Malawi.
