boda boda

There is a fantastic...that's my new saying, picked up from my buddy Liz.... a fantastic new bike phenomenon happening in western Kenya. It was an idea birthed at the Ugandan border in Busia and it is trickling west through many cities and villages. Boda boda. That means border border. Bike taxi's to be precise. At the border everyone must get out of there vehicles and walk across the border.... out of Kenya and into Uganda.... with a $30 charge each time mind you. The public transports do not cross at all. If you come by Matatu you must find another one, a Ugandan one, on the other side. Hence the need. The boda boda drivers carry you and your stuff a half KM over the border for 10 schillings or roughly fifteen cents. They are now very official in this location, they have an association and all wear hot pink shirts.
In Kisumu the boda boda drivers are young and hopefull. I'm sure a good majority were street boys who saved and saved for years to purchase or rent their bikes and start a new life, an employed life, Kenyon entrepreneurs. Paul says they are at the bottom of the working class but from their faces and the pride they display I think it is the top of the freelance beginnings, the beginning of the new business class.
They all ride, unfortunately, the same type of bike. The one speed, top heavy, poor braked, heavy black mamba. A bike, Paul says, that dates back to the turn of the century. It is very hard to carry much weight up hill with these bikes. I have often whizzed by on my bike while they pushed theirs up the hill. Too much money is spent on maintenance of this inferior bike. Hence the new need. The world bike.
Hopefully the world bike will enter Kenyas everyday life and improve the lives of thousands of young workers, not to mention support the people's independence of burning fossil fuels.