Bike Tools for Africa

[hubgearfreak]

how does over 70 visits of 2 weeks each to around 20 different African countries sound to you?

sounds like a bit under 3 years. it took me that long to properly know my way around Bristol and to be really able to comment on its cultural difference. either africa is much smaller than i thought, or you've no idea about the 99% that you (& I've) never been to.

as for jumping on a plane that's a blasé attitude to heavy CO2 emmissions and i'm a bit of a doo-gooder

 

[zimzum42]

I'm not going to back RR entirely, but I do sympathise a great deal with the point of view.

Where I disagree is the slight implication that noone uses bikes there, they do, certainly loads in East Africa.

Sending tools out doesn't seem like a bad idea, but I don't think we should be sending bikes out at all in the first place, sso perhaps just fill the container with tools....
Most of the bikes donated are totally unsuitable for Africa.
Sending out bikes (like sending clothing) destroys local industries and costs jobs.
This kind of project perpetuates dependency culture and the notion that the continent 'needs help'.

I can see why you're a bit upset at hearing a dissent opinion Hilldoger, but it's perfectly valid to question such schemes, just because it seems to be a good cause doesn't mean it's actually doing any good. There are plenty of well informed articles which ask the question 'is aid a good thing'.

 

[Globalti]

With the greatest of respect folk like Hilldodger float along in a cloud of self-righteousness, which is by no means their fault; it's the fault of the agencies who make a very nice living for themselves by feeding off our feelings of guilt. It shocks people to be told the unpleasant truth about Africa and the disgraceful way in which Africans are still being bled dry and exploited by their so-called leaders and by neo-colonialists in the name of aid.

 

[zimzum42]

What galls me is that charities and chuggers still use the old trick of a pic of a starving kid in some barren scrubland, most people genuinely think this is what all of Africa is like.

If people really want to help, they should start going on holiday there instead of places in Europe or the US etc....

 

[hubgearfreak]

the disgraceful way in which Africans are still being bled dry and exploited by neo-colonialists

what took you there so often?

 

[Globalti]

I go to promote the raw materials manufactured by my company; we use our expertise to give our African customers up to date materials of consistent quality (when we could easily be cheating them), which will help them to sell their own products at a profit, keeping them in business and keeping people employed. Happily in all the countries where we sell, our associates have prospered in the years since I started going to Africa in 1985, as an example I can think of one customer who has gone from employing 4 in 1992 to employing around 350 now, most of that success being thanks to the materials we sell him, which distinguish his product from those of his competitors. I don't call that exploitation, I call it honest business where everybody prospers and employment is created and the end user is happy with their purchase. When it works as well as it does here it's very rewarding.

 

[hubgearfreak]

i never realised salesmen were quite so altruistic.

 

[Globalti]

It's not altruism, I'd be too honest to be a politician and I couldn't face the back-stabbing and petty politics of so-called "aid work". I do it to earn a good salary and happily it's a way of combining that with the pleasure I take from meeting people in other countries and cultures, understanding them and with luck helping them to improve things in their country by stimulating business, which creates wealth from the bottom of their society upwards.

 

[punkypossum]

Waste of time I'm afraid, no self-respecting African wants to ride a bicycle, which is a symbol of poverty and a peasant life. Africans want at worst a Peugeot and at best a Honda Accord or a Mercedes V boot. When an African gets really big he wants a Hummer.

If I was an African peasant, I would still rather have a bike than no bike!!!

 

[Twenty Inch]

Or you could read "Blood River" by Tim Butcher to see the hugely important role bikes have to play in keeping people alive, or visit a reproductive health charity in Ethiopia and ask them whether their bike ambulance has ever saved lives, or talk to the schoolkids in the townships of South Africa about how bikes help them to get to school, because they can travel to and from school quicker than walking, so have extra time to earn income for their families and help with chores, or talk to district health nurses in Uganda about how bikes and mobile phones are transforming the ways that they work and the care that they give patients.

RR, you've seen a lot of Africa, but not enough.

 

[mickle]

I lived in Malawi for seven years, my stepfather worked in Zambia, Malawi and Sudan over the course of thirty years. I think I know Africa.

I'll be supporting Hilldodger's initiative.

 

[zimzum42]

I like the initiative, and there's a similar scheme run by the Japanese which is great, but I'm just not convinced that the bikes sent by Brits are suitable, and that such initiatives don't have a negative impact on existing local businesses.

The donation of clothes from Europe has caused massive problems in many places, with local clothes manufacturers going out of business and the donated clothes being sold in markets....

 

[walker]

I have spare parts, can I donate them? Stems, bottle cages etc.

 

[walker]

I lived in Malawi for seven years, my stepfather worked in Zambia, Malawi and Sudan over the course of thirty years. I think I know Africa.

I'll be supporting Hilldodger's initiative.

I've lived in SE London, its the same, minus the heat

 

[Maz]

Which countries in Africa are these tools destined for? Which projects are they hoping to support? Who will benefit and it what way?

Not accusational, just curious...