One of the more peculiar things about Rwanda (and East Africa as a whole), is how picky they can be when it comes to American dollar bills. It used to be that the dollar was king, but now it’s more like only the $100 dollar-bill-printed-in-the-year-2003-or-after is king. While $20 is $20 is $20 and a benjamin’s a benjamin wherever you go in the US, you’re lucking if you can get 90% on the dollar for small bills and pre-2003 notes around here. In fact, most of the time they simply won’t take them. And we’re not just talking about the banks and the proper establishments. A couple weeks ago we completed an exchange with some random guys on the street, who 2 minutes later returned demanding his money back. Our 1998 bill just didn’t cut it for him. I mean, who do they think they are with this your-dollars-aren’t-good-enough-for-me crap?

So on my last trip to the normal world (where $100 is a $100), I made sure to get a stack of only post 2003 bills to take back with me (did I mention there are no ATMs here?). As my two uncles who I discharged with this task recounted to me, it was perhaps the most unusual request the Israeli bank teller they convinced to fulfill it has ever encountered.

So I while I’ve got a healthy supply of acceptable bills, those captured by Somali pirates don’t seem to always be as lucky. You see, as it turns out, your ransom is also subject to this pesky not-all-dollars-are-created-equal craziness. Recounts one former captive:

“They sometimes say they want $208,000 exactly in $100 bills only,” he says.

“I don’t know why they make those demands. They usually also don’t like dollar bills that were printed in 2000 or the years before. If it was printed in 1999, they say: ‘This is not fit to be used in our shop’,” he adds.

Welcome to the world of the modern pirate. Isn’t it wacky? [Want to know more about modern pirate negotiation? See here.]

Meanwhile what I find most bizarre is the stack of bills ($20, $10, pre-2003 100s) that I have collecting dust until I return to the States, where both people and dollars are created equal.

[From Chris Blattman via Boondoggle]