Our Market Stall

I mentioned in the earlier post that there was a youth camp held over the Easter long weekend here at the LCM plantation. Since there were so many extra people here, our team decided to set up a little market stall selling snacks and drinks. The money we raised will go to purchasing bamboo sheeting for the inside of the church roof, which should cool the inside down a little. A few degrees makes a big difference here!

In the days leading up to the market we were busy going to town to buy the supplies, making icy poles (and trying to get these frozen in time for Saturday) and making popcorn. Our little stall sold pepsi, grape fizzy, popcorn, snack biscuits, twisties and icy poles. Everyone seemed to love it and we were quite busy! So much so that we had to head back to town and buy some more drinks!

The mark up on our items wasn't huge, but we managed to make about $150 (after paying our costs). This was an excellent return, considering our items ranged from 10c to $1. I spent the whole afternoon on the stall and then a couple of the others went out again after dinner. A few people came past at about 10pm and bought everything that was left so we sold everything which was great! After about 12 hours of market-ing we were done. I couldn't believe that people were still keen to buy things so late at night!

It was a cool experience, and it gave me a small glimpse into the lives of many of the local people who grow their own vegetables and sell them at market. It's a lot of work preparing everything, setting it up and sitting by your wares with a small return. A big commitment, that's for sure.

Our little stall, by the gate

Our sign - written in tok pisin

Some of our wares

Trying to keep cool under our tarp as well as trying to keep the drinks and icy poles cold! We had a lot stocked up in the fridge and freezer of the house, so we ran lots of laps to get the icy poles for our customers! 

Me and the kids manning the stall :)