African yard sale

I had the opportunity to participate in my first yard sale in Africa
this weekend. Two of the missionaries who have been here for a few
years are moving back to New Zealand in a month, so this weekend was the
cleaning out of their house and selling off of all those useful things
which aren't worth the cost of shipping -- furniture, sheets, dishes, etc.
Muzungu yard sales are a much anticipated tradition here at Mukinge,
mostly because shopping experiences are so limited so it's a chance to
get some stuff that's different from the usual things you can buy.
There are tales of sales of people climbing over fences to get in early,
clawing through bushes, and hiring bouncers for crowd control at
previous events. It's more like opening day for tickets for Star Wards
than a yard sale.
This weekend was a tamer version, however, with people lining up only 2
hours before the event, and only about half the hospital staff skipping
out of work to come. Despite that, the stuff was mostly gone in 30
minutes, and by the end of the sale everything was completely gone
except for a few videos left behind; a striking difference to my yard
sale in Denver where the men came by to steal my golf clubs in the early
morning hours but I still had over half my things leftover after two
days of sale. Total raised for the local orphanage from the sale
yesterday: around 3 million Kwacha, which roughly translates into around
$750.
I will admit to not being immune to the pleasures of the yard sale; my
purchases were a lavender shower curtain to go with the pink and peach
ones that I already own, a waste basket (been looking for 2 months for
one), and a sprinkler to replace the one that got stolen last week. Not
a bad haul.