Language Instruction, Vegetable Starts, and Other Successful Barter Agreements

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ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
One of the barter agreements arranged by readers took place in Indian and involved the trade of a Banion shirt for half the price of a milk goat.

Bill Wodraska shared some of his thoughts regarding one of mankind’s better ideas–barter–and offered up an interesting suggestion: “I’d like to see a continuing feature on barter agreements and skill-and-labor exchanges,” said Bill. “You’re on!” MOTHER EARTH NEWS replied.


Language Instruction for Clerical Training

My wife and I live in Kathmandu, Nepal. Although our home is a bit removed from MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ base in the rolling green hills of western North Carolina, we’ve discovered that the tradition of trading is alive and well even here in the Himalayas. During our three-year stay we’ve been involved in a variety of swaps, but the following story describes my favorite deal.  

As our plans to return to the States within the next year were materializing, my wife–who is a Nepalese citizen–became concerned that she had no salable skill to use in her home-to-be. So when a secretary at my office mentioned that she wanted to learn Nepali, I didn’t wait a minute before suggesting my wife as a language instructor and proposed that–in exchange for the lessons–the typist could teach my lady some clerical skills.

  • Published on May 1, 1981
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