One of the first duties of our day in the office is to check our e mail in case any of our co-workers happened to send in an order for supplies. There are times we may go a few days or even a week without receiving any but at other times we may be receive lists from several folks at once to be purchased and ready for transport with only a few days notice. The first part of the job (and maybe most critical) is making sure we understand what is being ordered. Since our team is international it can be very interesting trying to interpret orders even when they are in English. Like the time one of our South African co-workers asked for some plasters with ointment. I searched around quite a few pharmacies (or chemists if you rather) trying to explain, in Portuguese, what I was describing as an ace bandage with some kind of ointment embedded in it. I received quite a few blank looks and was obviously unsuccessful. On our trip to South Africa in May I found out a “plaster” is what we Americans would call a “Band-Aid”.
The second step in buying supplies is making sure our Mozambican worker understands what is on the list. The list must be in Portuguese and at times might need a picture added since many of the products here come from South Africa, China or India and may not have any Portuguese on the labels. Estevao has come back from time to time pretty sure he bought the right thing only find out it was not. For instance, just recently he bought a case of sardines thinking he was buying tuna fish because it was the same brand. Unfortunately there is a NO return policy in about every store here unless you happen to know the owner quite well.
The third step and probably most challenging is actually finding everything. Most people order something they have bought in the past but other than basic foods the availability of things changes constantly. One missionary told us when we first arrived that if we saw something we liked at a good price…buy a lot because you may never see it again. We have found that to be true. I may take a whole morning of driving from store to store to just find the item or driving around searching for the best price, especially when buying in bulk.
It might take anywhere from one day to over a week to buy everything on a list depending on the quantity and types of items being purchased. We get orders for everything from groceries, medicines, hardware, propane to things like car parts and motorbikes. Once everything that is available is purchased it goes through the process of being packaged up and labeled so it is ready for transport.
Though shopping is not a favorite activity of mine, I am thankful for the opportunity to serve my co-workers in this way. Our goal is to keep them from having too take time away from their ministry to make supply trips. We count it a privilege to be a part of the team in this way!