tkmunzwa

> His house was filled with petrol (gas) because he'd been paid and he had to buy something the same day that would keep for a month and hold its value or his money would evaporate. So we sat in his house praying there wasn't a fire.

I'm guessing the friend sold the petrol for USD, right?

Zimbabwean who lived through this checking in - let me add context and help deconstruct this for HN: People (and banks) were converting Zimbabwean dollars to anything that could hold value and could be easily resold (in US Dollars) ASAP - this could be petrol or petrol vouchers, groceries, cookies - anything at all that could be bought with Zimbabwean dollars and flogged for USD. One of the retail banks got in trouble with the central bank after adding masonry bricks to their commodity portfolio[1]. Petrol was definitely a risky. Bitcoin would not have solved this because the using Zimbabwean dollars to purchase of commodities was only the first step to procuring US dollars while arbitrating the delta between the official exchange rate that formal businesses had to use, and the much higher real exchange rate as determined by the market. The hypothetical bitcoin:Zimbabwean dollar exchange rate in 2008 would have always tracked the market rate with no opportunity for arbitration.

1. Not brick futures or other fiscalised instrument: the bank bought and took possession of piles of bricks for resale later to hedge against inflation

> Nobody disrespects a trillonaire, EVER.

Former Zimbabwean quadrillionare here - just chiming in to say you're very wrong; that depends entirely on the currency :)

> You click the handset down, like you are hanging up the phone, but just very briefly.

This brings back memories, this is a trick people my age group mastered as teenagers in a 3rd world country. All calls were billed - including local ones, so parents would commonly get lockable cages that would cover the buttons/rotary dial to prevent unauthorised calls in their absence. The cages would leave the receiver accessible even when locked in order to be able to receive calls, so we would use the hook to do pulse tone dialing; dialing a number with many zeroes was always a challenge since it required 10 rapid taps as part of a longer sequence, but I built up muscle memory.

The practice was colloquially named 'tap-dialing' and it was handed down from generation to generation. Sadly it came to an end in the smartphone world.

> This guy knows Africa.

I know it's likely hyperbole, but...JFC. Would you say an East-coaster who hikes part of the Appalachian trail knows Appalachia? At best, their knowledge is surface-level.

> I also think it's really important to take a step back and really think about if and how any donor is actually "helping" at all. We in the west have this funny idea that money is the answer to everything and more money = a better life.

I agree that there can be a charity can cause a vicious cycle by damaging local industry. However, it is pointless to talk about charity in isolation without considering other factors such as the harm caused by trade policies of developed nations (to be fair, is in their national interest), "exploitation"[1] of resources by MNC with no meaningful value-addition in host country, as well as a general lack of accountability among African political leaders.

Cutting all aid seems like an easy solution, but it won't spur development of local farms or industries if they are undercut by subsidized goods from abroad. The 'difficult' solution, but more likely to work, would be overhauling leadership culture, and getting a fairer trade system in place (e.g. no farm subsidies) - sadly, I do not see any appetite for either due to self-interest among the actors.

1. scare-quotes because raw resources are extracted and paid for, but the value addition is done abroad. Ghana produces a huge chunk of the world's cocoa, but most of the profits are captured by European chocolateers.

> It sounds great, and the people giving the money really think they're helping. Unfortunately, it's rarely the case

I don't think your experience driving around Africa gave you a enough information to adequately support your conclusion (which I could not leave unchallenged). I mean this in a non-disparaging way: you got breadth, but not depth. I, an African, on the other hand, have depth, but not breadth.

I have some experience with both sides of the NGO coin: I've seen communities and individuals positively. From disease eradication in whole communities to people regaining their vision. People giving money are helping in most of the cases. On the other side of the coin - I agree that NGOs have a lot of fat they could cut in terms of expenditures that do not directly go to their mission, but this depends entirely on which NGO it is and what their culture is, not all of them are the same. This is an industry ripe for disruption by leaner setups, too bad VCs aren't really geared for this.

Donors are helping, but maybe not as much as they think they are (per dollar). It would be great if they would research the org they are donating to to find how many cents per dollar are going to the cause. More transparency in this area is needed.

> I "made" it because I am stubborn, had parents who believe in education and because I hate being beholden to someone.

...and lucky. One African to another: it took me hard work, determination, and a whole lot of luck. It wasn't just one thing - but a chain of fortuitous events. My path is certainly not repeatable, so I'm certain my story is that of survivorship bias. I know lots of smarter/more hard-working people who didn't catch the same break that I did. Can you honestly say that you're that much better than your cousins?

> Is there really much practical difference between a police officer demanding a bribe and being robbed?

Yes: you can say no to coercion but you have no choice when you are being robbed.

Violence (or the threat of it) is a hallmark of robbery: Zimbabwean police will not do that at traffic stops - they are usually not armed. They will, however threaten to impound your vehicle for minor infractions (which would be illegal in most cases) and/or threaten to jail you to wait for your court date. Either of these situations will require paperwork and the money goes to the state and not their pockets, so they make you wait and reconsider the bribe, but eventually let you go. Usually.

Also, in the context of this thread, having cash or money in the bank makes no difference because traffic stops now have portable card machines for "spot fines"!