Our Grocery Store Burned!

The grocery store just down the street from us burned last week! I have no idea what happened (though it was very likely some sort of electrical issue) but the whole things burned – all that is left is a shell of the building! This shop was pretty new when we moved here and pretty basic but over the 2 years it has expanded and had quite a good selection of things for good prices – including the best garlic in town and my favorite peanut butter!! Not to mention that it was 5 minutes away by car! Now our closest store is double that distance! However, the good news is that the rumor is that he is going to reopen within a couple of weeks at at least some level. I guess there is some other empty space in the shopping center so they are going to open up there while they rebuild their shop!! Thank goodness! Now I just hope garlic and peanut butter are included in the limited stock!! Of course these are very trivial matters but the selection really does vary between stores – and you can’t assume any particular item is every going to be in stock – really anywhere! Keeps shopping challenging. On a sad note, we are really seeing food prices increase and increase here. It is an annoyance for us but I am really beginning to be concerned for the average Malawian. A liter of oil has gone up 200 kwacha (approx 1 qut. And about $1.5) in the past 4-5 months and just this weekend the price of fuel increased by 25%, up to about $7 a gallon! As everywhere this will have a huge trickle down effect. And as elsewhere salaries are not increasing at the same rate as food and other costs anyway!! And rumor (there are lots of those floating around) is that fuel is going to go up again soon!