[lbo-talk] Debt in rural Botswana

[Andy]

I thought this was interesting in the context of Graeber's Debt -- This is
from the memoir of an American who was a science teacher in a rural village
in Botswana I think in the mid-90's. He became involved with the daughter
of a witch-doctor and eventually married her. The following describes the
payment to a witch-doctor from a different family who performed blessings
of the kitchen of the house they built:

So the job was done.  We respectfully handed over a hundred pula at the
time, and more was given later.  Some other moneys were owned by his family
to our family, and I became unsure how much debt remained.  I even got the
impression that we weren't truly expected to pay it all, or at least not
for years. Everyone seemed both to owe money and to be owed moeny, and I
was surprised to learn that these inter-family debts were *not* divisive.
Owing someone money didn't cause friction; it had just the opposite
effect.  These multiple interlocking debts created a network of
mutual-dependency that served to unite people.

(Across African Sand by Phil Deutschle)

-- 
Andy
"It's a testament to ketchup that there can be no confusion."