Running to Stand Still

Brakes. Check. Gear selector. Check. tires, rims... yes, yes the least warped of the lot. Whits. Check!

The sun is setting and it is getting late. So I hastily pay, mount my new bike, and take off in a cloud of sandy loam dust to learn that... Whomp! The wheel goes one way, and the handle bars the other... these merchants don't actually tighten bike components in place but rather loosely assemble them together for a quick sale.

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Thus begins the myrad of mechanical mishaps. The first week into my placement was a disaster. I carried, walked, and parked this bike more than I rode it - the chain has broken 3 times (in different places) and my record for flat tires is 5 (during the same trip). Since that fateful day, I have discovered beyond a doubt that it is possible to ride with half a break, one pedal, and no seat (uphill while swerving through other bicycles carrying goats or maize bags). And as soon as I think things are looking up for old blue, bam! there goes a mud gaurd, a reflector, a screw, or a pedal. Something is set against me and I have come to accept that trouble and this bike are part of the same package!

My beast of burdern and source of frustration in the foreground and Luangwa Industries Inc. bicycle factory in the background. For the record, the expander in my handle bars on that day was actually broken too!

In the background of this picture, you'll see Chipata's only bicycle factory, Luangwa Industries Inc. My office, the PROFIT Chipata field Office, is located inside (the white building on the right). Not long ago, this factory was pumping out 300,000 bicycles a year with a total workforce of 200 - machinists, fitters, tap fitters, engineers, electricians, business managers. Its trademark bicycle was the eagle, a pinnacle of perfection as far as mechanical wheeled transport went, and a symbol of national pride, peace, and prosperity for a people with much to be proud of (Composed of > 73 different ethnicities and surrounded by strife and civil war in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Congo, and Zimbabwe, Zambia has never once experienced armed conflict). For these people, the eagle stood for a brighter future that production and independence promised to bring.

Now, entering the gargantuan factory was like entering a graveyard.

the machines idle, still as soldiers. pumps, mills, lathes asleep under a blanket of dust...

....some discarded and scrapped for spare parts.

Shipping and service vehicles parked, awaiting the return of productivity and its oil change.

At present, the only regular activity in the factory occurs in this small corner,



where bicycle frames are produced. Two people work in the factory, sometimes three and its output is a mere 5,000 bicycles a year. For an industrial powerhouse which not long ago serviced all of Zambia, the question is, "What happened?"

At peak productivity, the factory could regulate the introduction of competing products in Zambia - only if its supply fell short of national demand would other bicycles or parts be imported from foreign countries. After this restriction was lifted, in came poor quality bicycles that sold at lower prices. Struggling to compete, Luangwa industries raised its prices. If you do not care about how an apple tastes and are just interested in sustenance, do you buy the good tasting apple for $1 or the poor tasting one for 20 cents?

Across the country, similar trends occured and sourcing in-country inputs became harder. Dunlop Zambia, where the factory recieved its rubber, closed (moving operations to Zimbabwe). Paints and lacre factories closed too. Chemical companies, supplying the nitric and boric acid needed for bike brazing, followed (Zamefa, providing Luangwa Industries with brass for brazing, was the exception. It survived on copper products and is doing quite well now producing copper wires).

In response, the factory downscaled to manufacturing only frames. Since it is cheaper to use parts from other countries, the factory imports parts and asssembles the bike here.

The result for one frustrated Canadian volunteer was a non-specific mess made out of poor quality metal that brakes 3 times in the chain. The result for a nation was more devastating.

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"Ah Ms. Tina what is the problem this time?" - Mr. Jerri



"It's the back tire again!" - Me

"Ah at least..."- Mr. Jerri


Mr. Jerri is one of the 2 workers left at the factory whom I happened upon in my search for an Alan key. He is the machinist, electrical engineer, and manager of factory operations, all in one, and can fix almost anything that he is asked to fix. Many of his friends have left abroad for better and bigger things, to South Africa or Australia.

In Canada, I think with his knowledge, tenure, and capibilities, he would be a millionaire, yet he stays in Chipata to look after his family. His sister passed away in the hospital at a time when the hospital staff were on strike and he communicates to his mother who still lives in their home village only when her cell phone is charged.


Mr. Jerri is one of the numerous individuals that I have been awed to meet. Like the cook with training in computer hardware or the street peddler with a background in economics or agroforestry. Like the many youth who seek further education beyond what is financially feasible or the lab technician who cannot run malaria tests at the hospital due to power outages, the street youth or piece workers who, after looking at their environment in the compound and its future prospects, drink dangerously brewed alcohol to pass the day.

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A little background. The engine of Zambias economy is copper. Secondary industries and infrastructure like transportation, communications, institutions of technical training and higher education, unions (Zambia is known for its strong unions. Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's first president, rose as a union leader in the mines), were dependent. Agriculture, employing or at least occupying 80% of the population, was a secondary priority.


So, when the price of copper dropped Zambia was hit hard. Then came the oil shocks. Zambia, a fuel importer, was importing oil in increasing quantities to feed its growing manufacturing sector and as a landlocked country, it relied on tenuous links to the sea for trade. After the Arab-Israeli war, oil prices skyrocketted in 1973. Trade suffered, so did agriculture. The tonne of tea that once purchased 60 barrels of oil now only purchased 3. Fertilizer prices rose, agricultural inputs fluctuated as farmers, a significant chunck of the population, struggled to supply an emerging middle class with food.


Insult added to injury. The same oil crisis gave rise to an abundance of 'petrodollars' that rich oil-producing countries invested in Western banks. Western banks in an attempt to make use of all this money floating around, were able to offer cheap loans to many developing countries. Zambia an economy dependent one commodity was left with few alternative sources of income. Then Bam! as oil prices rose again in 1980, interest rates soared, debt, and additional debt to service debt grew. Until in 1994, Zambia found itself owing 161 % of its GDP.

Conditions* on these accumulated loans deprived factories like Luangwa Industries of inputs and brought many sectors of the economy, textiles, roads, commuications, to its knees.

'Austerity' measures had rippling and crippling effects. Cuts in government expenditure, in education and healthcare... in communities which I visit, the nearest health clinics may be 20 or 30 kms away. So if a child is sick, she is carried this distance on her mother's back. After a few days in the hospital queue, by this time the sickness has reached a critical level, the single nurse who tends to dozens of patients tells her that the supply of medication is no more. I'm not sure what the treatment for malaria was then or how much it would have been, but now it is equivalent to about 30 cents CAN.

...reduction in wages and availability of credit, privatization of public utilities...

In 10 years, 280 companies were privitized (one of the fastest in the world) and employment that was once IN demand became scarce. Not long ago, companies used to pull high school students out of their studies so that they could train them and employ them. Now, people like Mr. Jerri lost their jobs. Mr. Jerri is at least fortunate in this regard, as the many skilled workers that are currently unemployed can attest to. For even an aspiring police officier with top qualifications may not be hired as no one in his family has worked for the police department.

An economy that was once one to one with the US dollar, had its own national airline, bus company, and solid manufacturing base (from cars to Colgate) back in the day (when there was no talk HIV/AIDS), is now running to stand still. Today, the eagle, a symbol of national pride, peace, and prosperity, is found with the words Xin Hua clad on its gear and selector parts, while the tube and tires come from India.

* A comment about conditionalities. Many people hear the term "structural adjustment" and think privatization -> bad -> cause of poverty. And I hope to explore this more later.