Uganda: Feel Like a Millionaire

When you go to a different country, you usually have to change your money because they use their own currency. Money from different countries is worth different amounts, so you don't get exactly the same amount back. For example, you can change your Canadian money to American at the bank and you get a little bit less because their money is worth more. The money in both Canada and the States is called dollars. In Ethiopia, we used birr. In Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the money is called shillings.

Here in Uganda, they use very large amounts to represent very little. The smallest bill they have is 1 000 shillings. The exchange rate between Canada and Uganda (for today)  is 2576.  It's important to know the exact amount when you go to the bank so you get the right amount. But when I'm looking at the prices of things I usually round so I have an estimate. This helps me understand how much in spending. If the exchange rate is 2576, that means  $1.00 Canadian is about 2500 shillings.

So, to change your Canadian money to Ugandan shillings, you would multiply by 2500 (the number will get bigger). If you are looking at a menu and want to know what your meal is roughly equal to, you would divide by 2500.

That's a big number to divide by! I know that if I divide a number by 10, I can move the decimal point one place to the left (or take off a zero if it ends in a zero).

For example, 100 divided by 10 is 10. Or, 340 divided by 10 is 34.

To change from shillings to dollars we have to divide by 2 500!

So the bus ride I took today, for example, cost 20 000 shillings. Sounds like a lot, right?

Well, first I divide by 100 because that's easier than dividing by twenty-five hundred. So, I take off two zeroes. 20 000 -> 200

Now I have 200. I need to divide 200 by 25. I know that 100 divided by 25 is 4, so 200 divided by 25 would be eight. Make sense?   200/25 = 4

                                                       400/25 = 8

In total, my four-hour bus ride was only $8.00 Canadian. That's pretty cheap!

This is what $300 Canadian looks like in Rwandan Francs
(using the biggest bills they have)!