One of the entertainments of the bored Kitwe housewife is the DAPP shop. An acronym for Development Aid from People to People; these shops receive second-hand clothes from Europe and sell them at a pittance, the proceeds of which go entirely to charity. At the end of every month there is a clearance sale where remaining stock is sold at K2 per item (yes, I’ve bought T-shirts for three South African Rand, fine for gardening) and the following week the new stock is jammed onto the clothes rails. You can pick up trench coats and jeans for K30, tops for K15 and scarves and table cloths for K5.

There is the occasional local who will sneer disapprovingly at these “rich muzungu” wives riffling determinedly through what they view as clothes for poor people – why don’t we go shopping at Edgars and Foschini at Mukuba Mall? Because it’s not as…