Counting the Cost

Today our computer is running in safe mode as it won't work any other way so that is an interesting experience (very low screen resolution). We are thankful that it is still 'operational' but the heat and humidity takes its toll very quickly on so many things, electronic equipment in particular. It doesn't help if a gecko decides that your computer, printer, VCR ... is a lovely spot to lay its eggs so its young can hatch in a warm environment. I don't think that there are gecko eggs on the cook (so to speak) in our computer but we'll have to see. There is no number to call for Dell warranty here in the Solomons and I think our warranty may run out the day before we head home. We'll trust the Lord on all of that.

Our friends the Harveys, who have just moved to Hong Kong (for a much longer stay than ours), recently added a post to their blog about the cost of items in Hong Kong. They wanted to see what things were like here, so here is my (Geoff's) response which I hope they and everyone else will enjoy.

Similar to us, the Harveys exchange the Aussie Dollar (AUD) for around $6 in their local currency(our local is the SBD), although the AUD is having a belter of a time at the moment and we are getting close to $6.50 SBD now - that is an improvement on the $4.90 we were getting at the end of my trip here last year.

Life is not cheap in the Solomons, although if you live like the locals things are more affordable. That said, our purchasing power is quite significant as we are on western wages. From what I can see a good teaching wage would be equivalent to around $500SBD but many teachers would earn less than this. Were we living on these wages I am sure our buying habits would be significantly different. That said, we still like to be careful in the way that we live.

The markets are full of lots of fresh food which can vary from day to day in availability and from week to week in prices, particularly depending on where in the season a particular fruit or vegetable is. Pineapples were initially around $20 each and as much as $30 as we came very early in the season. One day there was only one man at the market and he was selling his pineapples for $50 (prices are clearly marked here meaning that locals and visitors pay the same price and you don't barter). Today Sophie bought this pineapple for $10, although last week this is the maximum you would have paid for the largest pineapple in the market. Prices are back up a little this week in the pineapple department.


On Saturdays we like to buy cassava chips. They are normally not available on any other day as they have to be fresh cooked and often the person selling them works elsewhere in the week and makes these on Friday night to sell for some extra selen (money) on the weekend. Here, Sophie and Brianna are getting our usual 4 packets at $3 a packet.


These chips don't last long at our place. Firstly, they are very yummy and secondly nothing lasts long so it has to be eaten quickly because of the heat and humidity or fed to the chooks.

There are all sorts of bananas available in the market. The type of bananas we have in Australia are sold green here and you eat them whilst they are green. They are ripe and very sweet and what we don't eat by the next day goes into the freezer for making delicious banana smoothies. Two days is generally the absolute maximum for keeping bananas. Besides, the geckos start to get into them if you leave them on the bench at night or the bats if you leave them on the veranda. There are lady finger bananas (they are actually sweet and affordable here), red skins, cooking bananas .... . Prices range from as little as $1SBD a bunch up to $20SBD for a very large bunch of flawless looking bananas. This morning we decided to have a change from the conventional bananas and Bri brought this bunch of small lady fingers for $5. We were happy with it because some of the bananas are green and some yellow so we might squeeze two days out of this bunch.


We will not get mangoes in Australia at the prices below even when they're right in season. This is still the early season prices here. Apparently they'll go down as low as 3 for $1SBD at the peak of the season and people start to get mango rash from eating too many.

Saturdays is flower day at the market. Solomon Islanders take a lot of pride in preparing their church for Sunday and flowers play a part in this. Hence the top part of the markets is dedicated to flowers each Saturday. It is just beautiful to look at. Today we bought a lovely bunch of flowers for Amanda.


A great way to save money here is to shop at the Bulk Store. There is no one supermarket that sells everything we want, so shopping is a complex combination of shops as we hunt out goods, brands, sizes and appropriate prices. The Bulk Store sells many of the essentials the old fashioned way. There are large bins of flour, sugar, salt, nuts, dried fruits, .... and we take the lid off and fill a plastic bag with the amount we want. This can save us over half the cost of buying from some of the other shops and we get just the amount we need. The bulk store is very busy, particularly on Saturday morning. Here are Bri and Oma buying some goods this morning

Some western luxuries are almost prohibitively expensive over here. It depends on where you buy them but some of the prices are almost unfathomable. Here are some examples.

The price of good quality sun screen is scary.

We live on Solar power and wouldn't have enough electricity to run this kind of luxury without turning on the generator to specifically make toast this way. The cost is too high anyway. I haven't priced a typewriter in Australia for a long while. Is $1200AUD what they cost now? That said, with much of the Islands outside the capitals not having access to electricity a business machine such as this can prove very useful and reliable.
Sunday morning is normally a special morning for us back home. Hence the girls are allowed Nutrigrain as a treat. At this price it is something they will be waiting until we return to Australia for. This price could be improved to maybe the low $100 mark with some shopping around. The girls haven't really missed Nutri-grain and we have worked hard to find affordable options. Weet-bix is around $40 a kilo which is not too bad. The biggest hit has been Weet-bix Apricot Bites at $33.30 for a 500g packet which is pretty comparable to back home I think .

I couldn't imagine spending this much money on some of these things even with our western buying power. When the laminator burnt out here (it was 3 years old) Amanda priced replacement varying from $2990 for an A4 laminator to over $4000SBD for an A3 model. Thankfully we have a new one coming on Tuesday as part of one of the teams. Amanda is laminating lots of resources for the hospital school as otherwise they just don't last.

We are thankful to God who cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and who tells us how much more he cares for each of us. That said, the disparity between Australia and the Solomons is enormous. It really is another world away. It is not good enough for us to just flippantly leave everything to God and not fight for justice, mercy and equity for all. The needs here are enormous. Often as I buy things I ask myself if it is fair to spend $20SBD on a rockmelon? At around 5% of a local weekly wage would I spend this back home? That said, housing costs and tax work very differently here as well. What can we do in our ordinary lives to live as responsible custodians of all that God has blessed us with, not taking more than we need and giving as much as possible to those in greatest need? Big questions, that I pray that God will convict you with an answer for as you endeavour to faithfully serve Him.