Tanzania Day 5: Kazi na Sala

"Work and Prayer"

That's the name (translated in English) of the women's group that we met with next in the village of Msitu Wa Tembo.

Niels Marcel, Karin (another rider in our group) and Ema (our local guide) riding past a small village.

Cherry pedaling with style. ;-)

To get there, we biked twelve miles from our camp to the village, passing fields of sugar cane as we got closer. A lot of the land near Msitu Wa Tembo belongs to TPC (Tanganyika Planting Company), which runs the oldest and one of the largest sugar cane plantations in the country.  In fact, to get to the village we had to cross a bridge over the Pangani River, passing through a gate guarded by the company.

Workers parked the bikes they'd ridden to get to the fields. These very narrow gauge tracks were abandoned, but would have led to the sugar cane processing plant.  

It was a enjoyable ride, and while we were stopped for lunch, we got to observe a number of monkeys running along the edge of the fields and climbing some of the trees across from us. 

Xavier, getting pictures of monkeys with the nice DSLR camera Liz generously let him use. Sugar cane is growing in the background. 

Parked by the roadside for lunch. 

Approaching the bridge, we turned onto the first and only paved section of road we biked on the entirety of our time doing the gbconnect ride, which was a refreshing change for a half mile or so.

Asphalt! And the guardhouse at the bridge.

We might have had more nice pavement if it were a year or two from now, but across the bridge was a major construction zone for a new road being built several feet higher than the old one and with culverts to help prevent flooding during the rainy season. So we were back to a dusty temporary dirt road that criss-crossed the new (as of yet unpaved) roadbed into town.

Left: Yours truly on the temporary road. Center: Juma and Karin, just after we passed a hugely loaded cart being pulled by donkeys. Still a thing! Right: The new, higher roadbed under construction, not yet paved.

Sign for Msingi School in Msitu Wa Tembo

Our destination was the site of two buildings run by Kazi na Sala women: a general store and the bike shop. Globalbike's local Program Director, Tuja Wiley, again met us out front of the store along with the Kazi na Sala members. 

Kazi na Sala Bike Shop

These women have an interesting story. Apparently their group was first formed in secret in 2013, as a savings group where women would contribute money to a common pool that was hidden away and could be lent out to members when needed. Groups such as this are not uncommon in Africa to help people save and weather financial challenges or access capital to build their small business activities. The social commitment helps people to save, and in areas with little access to financial services, groups can build up an amount of capital that would otherwise be inaccessible to pay for larger investments. They are also particularly powerful as a tool for women's empowerment. Often, women are expected to pay for many of the costs of running a household, such as food and school fees, and/or to turn over their earnings to their husbands (who may not always use them for familial benefit). By secretly stashing away money, the women of Kazi na Sala were able to help each other and were also well positioned to come out publicly when another organization - the Tatu Project - came to town in 2014 looking to assess needs and partner with the community in addressing them. 

Setting up in front of the adjacent KnS retail shop. 

Tuja Wily with Yashaoti, the Chair of Kazi na Sala 

Tatu means "three" in Swahili, and comes from their three principles of Empowerment, Education and Environment. Unlike the top-down approach of many traditional large-scale aid programs, Tatu's approach is based on solidarity - not charity - and empowering local people to put their ideas into action. It takes time to build relationships and have conversations within the community, but ultimately provides better and more sustainable results because solutions come from and are driven by those on the ground.

A baseline survey led by Tatu from 2014-16 identified five areas of need in this poor and somewhat isolated village of almost 7,000 people. But it was a bit of serendipity during one of the first gbconnect rides which led to Globalbike coming in as a partner and helping set up the bike shop shortly thereafter. One of the Tatu Project's officers happened to strike up a conversation with the founder of Globalbike in a hotel lobby where the gbconnect riders were staying, and invited them to bike over to Msitu Wa Tembo since transportation had been identified as an area of need. And so they changed whatever route they had planned and went to meet KnS instead. 

Abel, one of the bike shop customers.

The members of Kazi na Sala were enthusiastic about the idea of bringing more bikes to town, and a new partnership was born. Working with KnS, Globalbike built a bike shop, donated bikes and trained mechanics to run what would become the first of several businesses being operated by the women's group. In the ensuing years they built a retail shop (essentially a small general store) next to the bike shop and also organized microlending and Maasai jewelry-making operations. The profits from these enterprises are split among group members each month, or if they decide, are re-invested into their operations. In the future, they are hoping to build a social hall next to the retail store for the benefit of their members and community. It's safe to say that they have come a long way in the last decade - from a secret society to prominent and openly embraced pillars of the community. And the group has grown as well, from 30 members initially to over 60 now.

As was the case when we met with the Enaboishu, several customers of the bike shop shared how renting bikes has impacted their lives. Abel and Ayubu, two local farmers, told us how they used bikes to fetch firewood and water for their homes as well as get to their fields more efficiently. The bike simplifies their work and saves them both time and money.

Entrance to the bike shop, with Buffalo bike in front.

But they were also candid in sharing feedback about the bikes and what could improve their experience. While the Buffalo Bikes are designed and built by World Bicycle Relief to be both rugged and affordable, there are undoubtedly things that can be improved. Kazi na Sala collects feedback from renters and keeps records of all the maintenance that they perform on bikes. Globalbike reviews the operation weekly and sends suggestions as well as monthly maintenance reports to World Bicycle Relief, so that they can work to improve the design and the replacement parts they supply. As an independent organization, KnS has the discretion to respond to their customers as well, for example by buying different seats locally when some customers complained that the stock Buffalo seats were too hard. 

Tuja pointing out one of the more padded locally-sourced saddles KnS has purchased at the request of customers.

Customers have also asked for more puncture resistant tubes or tires - an issue with which cyclists the world over can empathize. Acacia thorns are a menace - as I mentioned previously - and the mechanics showed us tubes that they had patched literally dozens of times.

So many patches, but why throw out a tube (and buy a new one) while it can still be repaired? As my grandpa would say, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Another request: lights so that bikes could be used at night. Being not too far from the equator, the sun rises and sets around 6 in the morning and evening all year round. Roads are of course, not lit, and even if the moon is bright enough to see (as it was during our trip), that doesn't guarantee that a person on a bike can be seen by drivers in cars, trucks or motorbikes - who do not often give much space even under good conditions. The standard reflectors are better than nothing, but as someone who rides at night and prioritizes seeing and being seen, I can attest that lights are far preferable. Of course, cost and charging become issues with adding lights in this setting, but hopefully WBR can find a workable solution that would enhance the utility of the bikes in the early morning and later evening hours.

Liz (our trip organizer), Tuja, & Luice Stefano, lead mechanic

While of course we'd all love the fairy tale where solutions were easy and our charitable donations made everyone live happily ever after, but of course, life is more complicated than storybooks. However, what struck me about the Globalbike and Tatu models is that they deliberately create empowerment for all - not just for the women running the bike shops, but for their renters as well. As customers, not "charity cases", they have skin in the game and the prerogative to ask for service improvements. As partners in operating the business, Kazi na Sala can determine in what ways they might respond to challenges - whether sourcing alternatives such as the bike seats, or passing on feedback to the supplier. Again, there is still a need and role for charity in providing the logistical, advisory and capital support through Globalbike, but the approach is as a true partnership where together all parties can collaborate to help each other in serving beneficiaries.

While visiting the shop, we chatted with Luice Stefano, the lead mechanic and the first woman to be a Mechanic Trainer. She recounted how she much she enjoys her work and feels prestige from being a mechanic, especially as a woman. She had three kids who are 17, 13 and 8, the youngest of which they affectionately said is a "KnS child", having been born while Luice was in mechanic training and who has grown up around the shop and activities of the women's group. She related that her husband is supportive and even cooks and brings her lunch - something that seemed highly unusual in this cultural context.

Sign on front of the bike shop.

As far as challenges, Luice shared the same issue as Enaboishu with some renters who default by not returning bikes on time, which requires them to close the shop to go and retrieve them. If she could change anything, she would love to have more specialization in roles, with others taking on the cashier and debt collection responsibilities so she can focus more on being a mechanic. I think any small business owner can empathize with the difficulty in determining when revenues and demand justify hiring a new person and splitting off roles. Kazi na Sala is also considering creative solutions such as incentives for good behavior to incentivize renters to return on time and reduce collection burden. When the new electronic recordkeeping system launches that Globalbike is developing, it will have a way to record additional personal references who could be called to more easily follow up on a renter is delinquent.

Tuja noted that demand for bikes has been strong in Msitu Wa Tembo, in part because of the proximity of TPC, for whom many renters work as laborers and thus receive stable wages and have regular need to commute to work by bike. 

I was surprised at the breadth of Kazi na Sala's impact on the community - both through the bike shop and their other enterprises (which were developed with the help of Tatu Project). I will write a separate post about Tatu because they were really impressive and had additional projects and partnerships in the community that are worth spotlighting as a case study in effective altrusim.

Inside the main area of the bike shop. There were additional rooms for bike and parts storage as well as repair. The buildings were designed by a firm that specializes in collaborating with communities and prioritizing usage of locally available materials. As such, it looked different than the Enaboishu shop even though both are only about 15 miles apart.

Clementine showing off a ceremonial Maasai mask.

Before we left, the women again sang us a goodbye song and danced with us. And yes, we got several more items of beaded Maasai jewelry from KnS before leaving. Since they worked as a group rather than individuals, it was a nicer experience than at Enaboishu as there wasn't competition among sellers and no one person would miss out if we didn't select the item they made.

Table with Maasai jewelry and some of the craftspeople. Second from left is Godwin, the local coordinator for Tatu Project.

While they are unquestionably bolstered by their ethos of "Work and Prayer", what Kazi na Sala really highlighted for me was the power of collaboration to produce results that are far greater than any one person or group could attain individually. We need each other, and we're better off working together. And sometimes, a chance encounter can lead to something great.

It's probably not actually an African proverb, but maybe kind of?...