Dávid from Zambia – XVII. Blog Post

The guy in the picture is called Nelson. But we just nickname him "Peanut Guy." About a month ago, we struck up a friendship when he approached us in the city center and tried to sell us roasted peanuts. We're not big fans of buying from street vendors like this because most of the time we end up paying 2 or even 3 times more than the actual price for something. But the thing is, this kid seemed sincere, with a pleasant and winning smile.

So, we decided to go along with it and bought 10 packs from him. He thanked us with wide eyes and an uncontainable joy, even gave us 2 extra smaller bags as a gift. It was great to see how happy he was with the small amount of money he made.

Well, let me tell you... these peanuts are better than any snack or store-bought junk. I've never had peanuts this good in my life! They're not overloaded with any spicy nonsense. Roasted in the oven, nicely salted, and incredibly crunchy—ALL LOCAL! As you can see in the picture, he sells them in tiny little bags (about 70-80 grams). Each bag costs 2 Zambian Kwacha (about 34 Hungarian Forints). Of course, this 34 forints may not seem much to us, and I'm sure most households have a jar of peanuts sitting on top of the fridge, or scattered under, over, and around the sofa, and even in the bathroom. But here, 34 forints is about as valuable as 300-400 forints in Hungary these days.

We met Nelson a few more times around the city. Once, we even searched the whole city for his famous "Nelson Peanuts." Whenever we ran into the Peanut Guy, we always bought 10, 20, or 30 packs. Then, after a while, we ran out of peanuts.

Two days ago, we bumped into our friend again at a bus station, completely by chance. He spotted us from far away and rushed over to offer us peanuts. A week or two had passed since our last meeting, so the symptoms of peanut addiction were kicking in again... so of course, we couldn't resist.

Then a thought crossed my mind... okay, he's selling peanuts, but how does he manage to have the capital? So we sat down for a little chat.

Nelson lives in the Chipulukusu community of Ndola with his mother. It's his mom who roasts the peanuts every evening, and sometimes in the morning too (her technique is a secret). Nelson is the one who sells them, walking through the city from morning till evening, and on the more successful days, he sells all of his stock – he does this every day unless it's really rainy.

From the earnings, they barely get enough to buy food for the month and reinvest the money made from the peanuts. This kid loves doing it, and he's happy when customers like us leave with a smile after making a purchase.

Nelson's dream is to become a successful merchant one day. He doesn't just want to sell peanuts; he wants to get involved in many other businesses. He's already saved a little money.

Step by step, he's moving forward… and that's where I'll end this story!

Now, I leave it up to everyone to dive in and reflect on Nelson, the Peanut Guy's story.

~ April Highlights