Uganda sees its first female motorbike taxi drivers
Easy rider
Jan 29th 2014, 20:04 by A.F. | KAMPALA
IT IS 8am and Naume Awero is experiencing her first jam of the day in
Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Its really too much, says the 25-year-old,
sitting on her Bajaj Boxer motorbike surrounded by traffic in the downtown
area of Wandegeya.
She is the only known female bodaboda taxi rider in the city, home to
thousands of male colleagues. You know riding in Kampala there are too many
accidents, accidents everywhere, says Ms Awero, whos been on the road a
year. Other women fear motorcycles and cars. But I always tell them to come
and join me.
According to local newspaper a few female drivers exist in rural parts of
Uganda. But Tugende, a firm providing loans in the form of motorbikes to
recommended drivers in a hire-purchase arrangement, says she is the only one
in Kampala.
We interact with hundreds if not thousands of drivers all over Kampala, and
as far as we know, Naume is the only female, says Michael Wilkerson,
co-founder and CEO. This not only shows how brave she is, but the level of
enthusiasm she generates shows how much potential there is for other women
to buck stereotypes and join the industry.
Ms Awero has succeeded in a male-dominated industry and defied the odds in
her personal life. Abandoned by her mother at 12 following her fathers
death, she was raped and at 13 became pregnant.
When a male boda driver joked she should borrow his bike, the single mother
of two took on the challenge. She asked the university where she was working
as a security guard for a loan, borrowing the rest of the money from a bank.
With the six million Ugandan shillings (about $2,400) she bought a
motorbike, her own motorbike stage (where boda drivers wait for
passengers) and a driving permit, learning to ride in just two days.
Today she shares her stage with nine men seven days a week, making up to
50,000 shillings ($20) a day. In my old company I'd wait for a month to
make good money but the children would have to go to school, she says. I
would even go to sleep hungry. But with bodabodas you wont go to sleep
hungry.
Last October Ms Awero receieved a bike from Tugende, who have 263 active
paying customers and another 64 who have already fully completed their lease
and have gained ownership of their bikes.
She is now renting out her other vehicle and with the money she makes from
this pays off part of her Tugende loan.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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