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walk softly, go quietly and you will see...
essential requirement for the job if you are to maximise the number of fare-paying passengers) - depend
on picking up as many passengers as possible. Missing potential passengers means
lost income. So they drive slowly!
In an urban environment, this means creeping slowly so that you don't miss anyone
who may be approaching from down a side road. The only time the driver will attempt to
go above crawling speed is when a rival bus is just ahead and he wants to leapfrog past.
Anyone who has used these 'write off' buses knows they are completely safe. But
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institutionalised 'zuŋ u civil servants back in Westminster will have no idea.
The benefits
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Joy, joy, and more joy. Africans value 'zuŋ u who take part on their level.
The banter, the teasing, the sham 'arguments' are more memorable than any of those
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depressing London commutes. Africans get stories to tell. 'zuŋ u increase their
understanding of what local Africans have to face.
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(On one trip in Uganda I the 'zuŋ u sitting in the front seat of a 'mini-bus' have had deposited, without any
warning, a snotty nosed African toddler who I am supposed to cradle because all the locals are jam-packed
together in the few seats there are behind me.)
*****
(On another trip in Ethiopia where the 'mini-bus' services are of a much higher and more regulated nature, we
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have had one of those memorable scenes as the 'zuŋ u puts his foot down about being charged more
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than he was originally told. An 'argument' only settled when the 'zuŋ u makes the driver stop and
demands that his backpack be offloaded from the roof. And the solution that had everyone laughing when
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the 'zuŋ u gave the money that covered the 'extra' charge to one of the female passengers. Honour saved
all round. And ongoing banter between the Ethiopians about whether the female would keep the money and
whether the bus driver would let her keep it.)
***** ***** *****
The Aid m'zungu ‘elitism’
I was sitting alone in the large lounge dining room of an upmarket backpacker country lodge.
A young female sat nearby and, as people do, we started some simple conversation.
It turned out that she was newly graduated and was in Africa to evaluate for 2 small European
NGO a programme to rehabilitate ‘child soldiers.’
A worthy cause. But perhaps the wrong NGO.
