Boda-Boda

My name is Michael Dewan. I'm a classmate of Michael's, also spending time in Uganda doing research. He's asked me to share some of my thoughts on the topic of the Boda-Bodas:

Etymologically speaking, Boda Boda has an interesting history. This two-word term refers to the motorcycles you can find buzzing around the pothole-ridden streets of Uganda. They were originally bicycles used on the border between Uganda and Kenya as means by which boys and young men would illegally transport goods from one country to another. With the introduction of Asian-imported vehicles, these bikes were replaced by motorcycles which could carry far more goods, further and faster than their engine-less counterparts. For short, the locals began calling these vehicles “border-borders”. Because the English pronunciation of the letter “r” is more-or-less absent from Ugandan languages, this term became further simplified to “boda-boda”, more closely reflecting its phonetics. Bodas have now made their way from the rural border to becoming an integral part of commercial transport within Ugandans urban centers.

Boda-Bodas, and particularly their drivers, have been demonized as reckless, lawless creatures that have no consideration for their fellow roadway users. They are constantly weaving between cars, riding up on sidewalks, and jetting through traffic stops, seemingly immune to the ubiquitous traffic jams that develop in and around Kampala. In a recent meeting with the Sargeant Assistant Commissioner of Traffic, standing in full police uniform, he angrily proclaimed that boda riders were “uneducated, runaway criminals. Simply mad.” He seems to be representing the majority of Ugandan sentiment as a number of voices in the audience could be heard echoing this belief.

And honestly, I felt the same. I’ve ridden bodas countless times and each time I do I notice my arms getting sore from holding on to the metal backing for dear life. But more than anything, something tragic happened about two months ago that found me investing fully into this helmet policy. Moreover, it seemed to confirm my loathing for boda drivers. I found myself going to International Hospital Kampala to donate A positive blood to another mzungu – a 4^th year medical student at UMich. While we had never met, he worked within Mulago’s gates at the Joint Center for Clinical Research on his third Ugandan tour. A boda he was riding was struck from behind by a car and he suffered severe brain damage. After an initial scan, he was quickly transferred from Mulago to IHK where he received a hemicraniectomy to reduce his medically refractory increased intracranial pressure. He died 5 days later. And my hatred for bodas was sealed. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the whole story is his last blog post where he describes his excitement after purchasing a helmet for the many boda rides he will be taking. Again, I never met Suj, but from what I’ve heard and what I’ve read, he was golden: http://sujalparikh.blogspot.com/

I felt a lot of things in the wake of what happened: anger, fear, sorrow, to name a few. But without getting much into my emotional reaction, these events combined with my sentiment towards bodas made me realize that something should be done about all this. It’s crazy that every day hundreds of thousands of Ugandans are placing themselves on these machines without helmets. Fortunately, I’m not the only one who felt this way.

Earlier this week I found myself at a conference for the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative, an initiative with the vision of putting a helmet on every boda driver and passenger in Uganda and the rest of the developing world. The conference brought individuals from all sectors together to discuss the problem of head trauma in boda boda riders and what might be done to curb it. The CDC and WHO are active members of the research efforts, while representatives from the FIA Foundation and Arive Alive – Uganda contribute from a general road safety perspective. Of course the Ugandan government is an active participant sending representatives from the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Ugandan Police Force, and other policy-making officials.

I quickly discovered that from the government and the police’s perspective, these boda riders were pests that needed to be eliminated. And then I met some of them. Thankfully the organizers of the event had the foresight to invite some of these riders – the very people we would be targeting our campaign toward. After sitting patiently listening to their profession be damned by many of the stakeholders present, the boda drivers were given the floor. And they began describing their lives – a side of the story we hadn’t given much thought to.

Yes it was true, they said, we aren’t well educated. Our parents couldn’t afford to send us to the schools that many of you were lucky enough to attend. So we came to Kampala from the villages looking for opportunity. And the prospect of making a couple dollars a day transporting busy travelers on a motorbike seemed ludicrous to pass up. Just like many of you sitting here, we have families to feed and children to send to school, and driving bodas is the best shot we’ve got. And yes, sometimes we don’t follow all the traffic laws, but sometimes we feel we don’t have a choice. Our clients – many whom are businessmen and professors and even doctors – demand more. They are late and they will not accept waiting in a traffic jam so they command us to speed between the rows of cars. So what are we to do? Say no? And risk losing a morning’s wages? And we’re not all opposed to wearing helmets. Yes, they’re hot, and yes sometimes it’s difficult to hear in them, but more than anything, helmets are expensive. When given the opportunity to spend 20,000 Ush on a helmet, or to send two of my children to primary school for a term, I’ll take my chances with a head injury.

And it was true. These people were…people. They were sons and fathers, husbands and breadwinners, just trying to survive.

Boda bodas are not going away anytime soon – nor should they. The Ugandan economy relies too much on their services – and too many people rely on this job to earn a living. But there is work to be done and if anything is going to be accomplished in the way of an effective helmet policy, it will take all parties involved treating each other like human beings.

We’ve already begun some of the work. More on this later…