The transformative power of bicycles -- in the lives of rural women in Africa

[John Saxby]

This podcast from the Beeb begins in the northernmost region of Zambia, not far from the secondary school where I used to teach half a lifetime and more ago. It tells of the transformative power of a bicycle in the lives of rural women in that country. These are sturdy bikes -- steel, no trick alloys or plastics here.

This is the podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1pkp

And here are some still photos from the same scheme -- these, from Zambia's Southern Province:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2020/jun/04/pedal-power-zambias-female-farmers-go-further-by-bike-in-pictures

[Andre Jute]

The last domestic animal to be tamed by Woman was Man. -- Will Durant

Fascinating, John. All this excitement is not about as major a change as the Beeb and the Guardian believe: the women always worked the fields while the men lazed in the shade and drank beer, and occasionally made war. The one actual change is into whose pocket the market economy puts the yield of the labour.

But the instrument of change is super: the bicycle! Who would have guessed. (Actually, a custom bike maker did: Craig Caffee had a clever scheme to help Africans make their own bicycles from bamboo -- https://calfeedesign.com/bamboo/) I rather liked these cycling ladies' precursors, the MamaBenz, too.

[John Saxby]

Thanks, Andre.  I remember that Raleigh advert!  Good stuff.

So many memories & tangents here.  When I first lived & worked in Zambia (1969-71), there were Raleighs everywhere, standard-issue black.  I even saw a few Rudges (!)   A few years later, I was in Lusaka and Luapula doing graduate research, and bought myself a "Flying Pigeon", a made-in-China Raleigh/Rudge knockoff. I asked Patel's on ChaChaCha Road to install a 3-speed SA, which they did.  That worked very well to get me around Lusaka, 'til it was pinched. 

Part of what intrigued me about the Beeb podcast was the Buffalo Bicycle, made in Zambia, and I'm sure full of Raleigh/Rudge design echoes.

And, on the matter of bamboo bikes, here's an item designed and made in Uganda:
https://boogaalibikes.com/  They could say, "Made from bamboo harvested at 14,000 feet in the rainforests of the Ruwenzoris."  Now that may not be exactly or 100% so, but it could be so.

I'm sure you know of the Mulanje massif in Malawi (made famous beyond Southern Africa by van der Post's book, Venture to the Interior).  There's a race held there each year (up to the topmost peak, Sapitwa, and back down to the Likhubula Pools, about 15,000 ft in all), for guides and porters employed on the mountain.  The prize for the winner is a new bicycle, a prized item in rural Malawi.

Cheers,  John

[Andre Jute]

Back in the day, the 1950s and early 60s, town council employees, health inspectors and suchlike, went around on bicycles, Raleigh for the underlings, Rudge to distinguish the senior men. Us schoolboys knew the difference! Quite a few sons of council workers came to school on their fathers' time-served bikes; the council would hand out a new bike every so many years and not ask for the return of the presumed worn-out bike because it was one of the implicit perks.

[in4]

Such a rich thread! My Father was a Rudge chap in his younger days and I recall riding on the top-bar seat with both fear and exhilaration. Sadly when I turned 30yo…..lol

[John Saxby]

"Don't trudge it, Rudge it!" was the phrase (I'm told  )

They made a pretty good motorcycle, too.