Een inhoudelijk hoogtepunt

Vandaag kwamen de Oegandese leerlingen naar de compound om samen met hun Belgische leeftijdsgenoten aan Enabel uit te leggen wat de slagzin ‘een fiets maakt het verschil’ betekent. Enabel, het agentschap voor ontwikkelingssamenwerking van de Belgische federale regering, kwam luisteren naar geëngageerde en enthousiaste uiteenzettingen over Bike4Care, Bike4School en Bike4Work vanuit een inleefperspectief en een lokale blik. Geen enkele SDG werd geschuwd, geen duidelijk standpunt werd ingeslikt, geen moment ging verloren om uit de doeken te doen wat we de voorbije week hebben gezien, gehoord, geproefd en gevoeld. Met passie vlogen alle leerlingen in de materie om de twee heren van Enabel op het hart te drukken dat een fiets niet enkel een transportmiddel is, maar een hulpmiddel op vele manieren. ‘In addition to that’ kwam uit alle hoeken van de gespreksgroep en de heren maar pennen, knikken en bewonderend kijken. Oegandese leerling vult de Belgische leerling aan en visa versa. Een waterval aan argumenten en een stortvloed aan persoonlijke gehoorde getuigenissen overspoelden de medewerkers van Enebal. Obedi, de manager van CooP-Uganda, zat glimlachend toe te kijken, Hellen, de veldwerkster zat te genieten dat al haar kennis was overgebracht en de begeleiders leunden tevreden achterover. De voorbereidingen en de inleefreis hebben geloond. Na 2 uur verbaal vuurwerk beloofde Enabel om samen met CooP-Uganda dieper te duiken in de werking en manieren te zoeken om samen te werken. Missie geslaagd, nu gaan we België verder overtuigen.

Om een idee te geven van de inhoud, geven we graag de reports mee die elk groepje schreef voor Hellen.

Bike 4 Work

Bike4Work is one of the three parts of CooP-Uganda. We did this part of the project on Wednesday. Before we left, we got a resume on how Bike4Work works. It’s a bit different than the other two parts because the entrepreneurs have to pay the full price of the bike. This is 515 000 shillings. They can pay this on loan. The maximum period of this loan is nine months. CooP-Uganda used to search for entrepreneurs in communities but now the entrepreneurs contact CooP-Uganda themselves. Then some employees of CooP-Uganda collect data from the entrepreneurs such as income, profit, distance and the change a bike could make. Then they make up a contract which states how much they need to pay every month based on their forecasted profit with a bike. They remind them of this payment and motivate them to also have other sources of income. Gender-equality is very important to CooP-Uganda, as we will explain below. This is also why fieldworkers, Hellen and Mercy, cycle through the communities to change the vision and mindset of the people. In this way women can realise it’s completely normal to ride a bike and can even help them in many ways.

There are many SDG’s that Bike4Work has an impact on:

• SDG 1 No poverty: Because of the bike the entrepreneurs can make more profit. This happens because of not having to pay transportations costs, they can transport more and can sell into further place, so to more costumers.
• SDG 2 Zero hunger: All of the reasons from SDG 1 have an impact on SDG 2. More profit means: more money for food, more money for a variety of food and more time to get to the market and easily bring it back home. They can also invest their profit into developing their own agriculture activities.
• SDG 3 Good health and well-being: More variety in food contributes to a better health and well-being. You don’t have to walk long distances everyday so this means less pain in your back, legs and being less tired. If you are tired you can get sick more easily. More profit also means you can maybe pay for a doctor. Cycling is also a healthy way of moving and a good exercise for your body.
• SDG 4 Quality education: More profit means you can pay for the education of your children so they can go to school when they have to, and so they have more chances of getting a better job in the future.
• SDG 5 Gender equality: Female as well as male entrepreneurs can get a bike if they ask for one. The biggest challenge is the mindset of the people. In some communities it’s frowned upon that women ride a bike. It is also considered as something for poor people even though it actually can make a difference for anyone. That’s why the simple action of Hellen and Mercy cycling through communities to change the vision of the older generations is a feat of leading by example.
• SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation: Because of a bike you have an easier access to a water source.  And with the extra profit a bike generates, they can also buy bottled water or a system to collect rain water.
• SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities: a bike is a sustainable vehicle. It’s has less impact on the climate and is easy to maintain. The Nile farm is also an important project that contributes to this SDG. The Nile farm plants ten trees for every bike they provide. They prepare the planting of trees so they can easily grow once handed out. This is important to cancel out the small amount of CO₂ that a bike still produces. Some trees are given to farmers and entrepreneurs so they have an extra source of income.

Wednesday we visited two entrepreneurs in relation to Bike4Work. The first one was Robert, an entrepreneur of 32 years old. He lives together with his wife, two children and three of his four employees. He has two businesses, one is called Musoga, a food business where he sells chapati and manda’s. He uses his bike to get ingredients. Because of the bike he can transport more and is less tired. The profit before the bike was 5000 shilling, now with the bike it is 20 000 shilling. The other business is a clothing business. He sells clothes on markets. He buys this clothes from a trader for 1000 shilling and sells them for 2000 shilling. Robert and his employees work 7 days a week, 17 hours a day. We really saw the impact of the bicycle on his businesses.

The second entrepreneur is called Isa. He is a man from 62 years old. He has two wives who both live in different houses. In total he has 13 children and 4 grandchildren. Not all of them go to school because he doesn’t have enough money. From one of his homes he walks seven kilometres to the farmer where he buys the milk. For one liter he pays 1600 shillings and makes a profit of 400 shillings. Because of the bike he can carry two jerry cans of five liters instead of only one. He sells the milk in his community. He does this two times a day, in the morning and in the evening. This leads to a doubling of his profit. We walked the seven kilometres to the farmer so we know how tiring it is and how much difference a bicycle makes.

In Belgium a bike is also used for work. Mostly to get to their work. Or to do small distances like getting to the city centre. In Belgium a bike is perceived as being quite common and an everyday-item that everybody uses. We see it as an environmental friendly vehicle and easy in use. It’s an easy way of transport and quite quick as well. In Uganda a bike has the potential of being the same. We do not have projects like the Nile farm and we don’t plant trees for every bike. We do not cancel out every bike in CO₂ emissions, let alone a car. So this is a thing we were are looking up to.

First we thought it would be difficult to do research about Bike4Work because we are students and don’t work yet. But in reality it wasn’t that hard because of the explanation of the staff of CooP-Uganda and the experiences in the field. Also the interactions with the students of Jinja SS. were a valuable addition.  

Bike4Care

During this project, we worked on a branch of CooP-Uganda, namely Bike4Care. We focused on how a bike can make a difference when it comes to healthcare in this country. First we interacted with students from the local Jinja SS, a secondary school. This way we could compare our views and knowledge about the medical system in both countries. Then we followed volunteers on their daily journey and saw the impact of the bikes delivered by the project.

On Saturday, we met our Ugandan teammates. We discussed the importance of ambulances, and their availability. We immediately noticed some differences: the ambulances in Uganda take hours to arrive, if they even come at all. Added to that is the prices of the petroleum, which can be a problem for some families. Bike ambulances exist as a possible solution, like for patients with a fever, but not for the excessively wounded, or those with broken bones. Many roads are simply not asphalted, and if they are, they’re filled with dangerous potholes and subject to erosion. This is why the local scouts learn first aid and are able to teach it to other students in school. If someone gets wounded in, for example, an accident on the road, there is usually some help available.

Another shocking subject that came to light was the child mortality rate, and the life expectancy. A lot of young children die before the age of five, mostly due to poor healthcare and nutrition. The average life expectancy is fifty-six years old, which was obvious when we cycled through communities. Lots of young children flooded the streets, with little elderly people to be seen.

We spent a day with three VHT’s (Voluntary Health Team) on Tuesday. We gathered at the Medical Health Center of Jinja. This is where we met our guides for the day, voluntary workers who have recently received a bike. We followed them the entire morning trough their daily routine checkup of the patients in the surrounding villages. We learnt that a bike can double, even sometimes quadruple the amount of patients they can help in a day. Richard helped eight patients without, and eighteen with a bike. Steven went from three or four daily patients to sixteen or twenty! Bikes also reduce the energy their job can drain. Richard was tired and felt ill after work, but since he received his bike, he’s got more time for his children, wife and farm. The medical center that sends the workers out receives medication every three months, which is not close to being enough for everyone. Patients are often referred to doctors or hospitals to buy their own medication, which they have to pay for. A lot of the time, that isn’t possible.

To get a bike, the volunteers need to have worked at the center for three or more years. Luckily, they don’t need to pay full price. It’s only a third of the cost for healthcare workers. If they can’t pay immediately they have to figure something out. They might take a loan from their neighbors, which is paid back in segments.

Here below we will discuss the impact a bike has on the SDG’s:

1. No poverty
   1. The patients are cured a lot faster, which means they can get to work sooner.
   1. The VHT’s reach more patients, earning them more money or gifts as tips.
2. Good health and wellbeing: Bike4Care stands for healthcare for everyone, which is the embodiment of this SDG. First aid is taught in schools, bikes are supplied for VHT’s and bike ambulances, which are modified versions of the regular models. Another advantage that’s less talked about is the exercise that comes with cycling.
3. Quality education: The sooner an illness is cured or a wound is healed, the sooner patients can go back to school or back to work.
4. Gender equality
   1. All patients get help, no matter their gender.
   1. Bikes are supplied to both men and women, though many women choose city jobs, as they think the rural landscape is difficult to traverse.      
5. Clean water and sanitation: Due to the lack of clean water and sanitation, people get sick of unhygienic living conditions and drinking filthy water.
6. Reduced inequalities: The help isn’t based on the financial or social status of the patients.

In conclusion, this is what we learned from the interactions we had in the past week. We came to the realization that a bike is a huge help to both patients and the medical caretakers. A bike does make a difference. We want to thank the staff of CooP-Uganda for making this experience possible.

Bike4School

Introduction

Bike4school tries to help students by giving them a bike. The concept goes as follows: Students who have to walk very far from home to school get a bike. This has a lot of benefits: they get faster and safer to school, attend classes less tired and are more concentrated. This way their grades will go up and in the long run their education-level will be higher. In the end they will get a better job. This will also reduce the amount of school dropouts.

The process

For the students to get a bike, they first need to know about the project. The field workers, Hellen and Mercy, do this by going to schools and sit in at the parent teachers meetings to talk about the project. After this students need to apply to get a bike. In this application form they need to give some basic information about themselves and their route to school. This information will be checked by the teacher and parents. The students who need to walk the longest distance and the most dangerous routes, will be selected. The team at Coop-Uganda will then map the routes of the students using Strava. If the students can ride a bike and have 175 000 shilling for the bike, then they will get it. If they can’t ride a bike they get two weeks to learn how to ride it. Otherwise they need to wait a year before they can try again. After this they will be monitored for the rest of the year. This means that in the first term their grades will be analysed and used to compare with their grades in the second and third term, when they have their bike. If their grades don’t improve they will talk to the students and teachers to find out what went wrong. Problems can be hunger and family issues.

School system

School in Uganda starts in February and ends in December. They always have 3 months of school and 1 month of vacation.

Primary school lasts 7 years. The children mostly walk but also have the chance to go to school by bike. Some primary schools also have a school garden thanks to Coop-Uganda. The school system is based on levels and not on age. We visited 2 primary schools. One school had a large school garden and some students took care of the garden. The other school did not yet have a school garden, but the broken bikes were getting fixed at that moment. This means that the project is also active in primary schools.

Secondary school is divided in to two. First you are in ordinary level (the first 4 years). After accomplishing the fourth level you get to advanced level till sixth and sometimes seventh level. You can recognise their level based on the colour of their bag and uniform.

When we followed the students to school and during their school day. We noticed a lot of differences between our school system and theirs. School here starts earlier at 7:20 and a lot of students wake up at an average of 4 am. The lessons lasts 80 minutes, this is much longer than in Belgium. Most of the time their lessons stop at 4:40, but this can change depending on your level and lesson schedule.  When it rains, it is normal for them that most of the student and teachers come later or even never arrive. If the students have the money to pay for school lunch they can get pocho with beans. This meal is served every day. We talked to some students about this and they actually don’t really like but this, but it is their only option and often their first meal of the day. That’s why school gardens are so important. It helps to create more variation in the school meal.

Nile farm

The main concept is that for every bike that is given out they plant 10 trees to equalise the pollution of the produce of the bike. The trees that are grown here either get given away to schools, communities, families and other places. When a school starts a school garden the students have lessons at the Nile farm about gardening and taking care of their crops. They also get basic tools and seeds to start their own garden project at school.

School gardens

A lot of school in Uganda have their own garden which is tended to by a garden club. The vegetables that are grown will be added to the pocho and beans. Which leads to a richer and more varied diet. Because of this school performances, attendances and attention during class will increase because students are healthier. A healthy mind in an healthy body.

Excess production can be sold or given away to those we are in need. This way the school may be able to raise funds, this may lead to a reduction of the school costs for students. The money for this project is raised by donations or fund raisings.

If schools have already been working with Coop-Uganda for over a year and they show good contribution to the project, they get the chance to have a school garden (and also bike shelters). This helps with a lot of things. The crops which grow there get eaten or sold. They have also found a solution for fruits that are almost turning bad. They dry these fruits in the sun and sell them at school.

Opportunities

The bikes are already very advanced, but some changes could be made to the bike. A lot of girls don’t like to drive a bike because of their uniform skirts. The solution for that could either be to change the frame of the bike or let girls also wear pants and change the uniform. The carrier can now carry up to 100 kg, but this needs to become even stronger. The chain also could be stronger because they need to put a lot of force on the chain when they are going up a hill. A change that also could be made is the colour of the bike, because of the red sand the bike gets dirty very fast. It gets very fast very dark, that’s why lights could be a valuable addition to the bikes.

Another opportunity is the need for more staff to monitor of the students. Now it takes a lot of time for the staff-members of Coop-Uganda to do the monitoring. Because the bikes aren’t always used by the kids, some time the parents take the bikes for themselves.

SDG’S

SDG 1: no poverty

Bike4School can help to reduce poverty, because on the long run students get better grades and this way can have a higher education and so get a good job.

SDG 2: No hunger

If students have a bike to get to school they need to spend less time getting to school. In the time they’re normally walking, now they can go to the market for food. Going by bike costs less energy so they will feel satisfied for a longer period of time.

SDG 3: Good health and well-being

The students of Jinja SS told us that after school they don’t have any time to have hobbies or sports. Biking to school can be a good alternative for exercising. Social contacts also increase, now that they have a bike and can see friends easier.

SDG 4: Quality education

Being able to bike to school, makes that students are less tired in class. Because of that they can pay more attention in class and they get to learn more. This way they benefit more from the teaching.

SDG 5: Gender equality

Girls have a lot of tasks that they need to do before school. A lot more than boys. Because of all the household chores, the combination with proves to be challenging for them and they skip school or drop out. By giving them a bike, they can combine household chores and school easier. Sometimes they can also sell things before school in that way they earn money for the family and they become a more important family member.

SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation

Due to the bicycle they have the time to get water in the morning faster and carry more. Some of the people sell some of the water they can get before school to there neighbours for a small price.

SDG 10: Reduced inequalities

The students who live far from school also get the chance to profit from the good school system as much as students who live close to school.

SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities

Going by bike doesn’t create any pollution. The little pollution that is produced by the factories where the bikes are made is compromised by the ten trees that the Nile farm plants.

SDG 12:  responsible production and consumption

The factories are now based in India and Taiwan, but they are planning to get the factories in Uganda. The bikes that are made are very strong and have already lasted 15 years.

We are very grateful to have been able to interact with the Ugandan people and to witness the branches of Coop-Uganda in the field. We want to thank the whole staff of CooP-Uganda for letting us explore, experience and interact.