Ex Africa semper aliquid novi (Out of Africa there is always something new) said Pliny. But new does not always equal good, so it is with great pleasure that I report the story of the Zambian bamboo bicycle.
Like many people who have lived and worked in Africa (I taught English in a Zambian primary school in the early 1980s) I left with a profound sense of frustration that so much could be made of the place, but so much was lacking. As my deputy headmaster drove me to the airport for my final departure, he said ‘This country can never progress without proper training.’ He was right, but that was just a part of it. It goes without saying that Africans can be every bit as competent (and indeed as incompetent) as anyone else; but in a place where basic infrastructure is lacking, where dirt roads cannot be maintained as they go through hundreds of miles of uninhabited bush, and where the very lorries that should drive on the roads either do not exist or are themselves badly maintained through lack of parts, in turn caused by lack of funding, things will fall apart – physically as much as organisationally. While I was there, there was a shortage, not disastrous but serious, of maize in the cities. There was plenty of maize in the areas where it was grown but the transport infrastructure simply wasn’t up to getting it from A to B. I sometimes think that western aid should simply take the from of sending in engineering companies to build roads, railways, airports, telecom systems, schools and hospitals. (I know, I know …)
At that time, and presumably still now, the commonest form of transport for Africans was the bicycle – and that meant solid steel Chinese machines that were as heavy as they were sturdy. They were fine for getting through the bush but were hard and heavy to ride. Now we have the Zambike, a low-tech bike made of bamboo, which grows quickly, and is abundant and light. I am very pleased to mention this here and I sincerely wish them the very best of luck with their venture.
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