Fono Coffee

At the beginning of the year, Kenyan students who have just finished class 8 receive their scores on the national standardized test.  Over the next month or so they are required to apply to high school like we apply to universities in the States.  This requires copies of their test result form (which could be recreated on MS word in about 5 minutes).  Since we have the only reliable copy machine (in our 3-in-1 printer) in a 10km radius, we have had a steady flow of traffic asking for Fono Coffee (its an aural coffee experience) which we now know is the Maasai word for photocopy. 

This regular interaction with people is no problem, but we occasionally get some strange requests.  The other day, a teacher from the secondary school nearby came looking to make 90 copies of a 4 page test.  I made 30 and gave him the stank eye as he sat on our couch for the 20 minutes it took to spit out the copies.  Today we had another special interaction with the ol' fono coffeier.  After making three copies of a report form the young man asked for his envelope back.  I handed it to him and he said, "no, I want you to copy it."  Being a plain, cheap looking envelope I was a bit confused.  "Why do you want to copy it??"  Then it dawned on me: he thought that by copying the envelope he'd have more envelopes.  I tried to explain it didn't work like that (and didn't get into 3-d printing) while he sceptically grimaced at me.  Eventually he left but I still wonder what else he thought a printer could spit out.....