In Mali the Communaute Financiere Africaine franc is used- most commonly known as CFA (see-fa) or franc. The exchange is around 500 CFA to $1- so, as you can imagine mental math becomes a norm. This currency is used all over West Africa- brought in during French Colonization.
Today in my Bambara lesson I learned how to say the different values of money in Bambara- simple, right? Not so much! You see in Bambara the money is in units of five. For example if something costs 100CFA (or Keme) the shop keeper would tell me Mugan or “20”. 1000Cfa is Kemefila or 200, and 300CFA is biwaru or 60. Confusing, right!
Here’s a little practice
Bambara Actual number Value in cfa What it can buy
Mugan 20 100cfa small packet of powdered milk
Kemefila 200 1000cfa taxi ride, liter of milk
Biwaru 60 300cfa loaf of bread
Bisaba 30 150cfa ride on a sotrama
Tan ni duru 15 75cfa 1 egg
and just in case you are curious what it looks like
Some of the coins
All the bills- the cleanest you will ever see them!
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