Ms Rashida Nambajwe repairs a bicycle at their family shop in Katwe, Kampala in June, 2020
Children’s bicycles were mainly used for fun rides in compounds or neighbourhoods to keep children busy during off school days. Most parents gave bicycles to their children as gifts after achieving something worth celebrating while others just bought it because the child would cry for the neighbour’s. But since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed in Uganda in March, 2020, more people have taken to riding bicycles.
It is common to find adults on Kampala streets manoeuvring traffic in small children’s bikes with raised seats. The most hilarious during the lockdown was when private cars were restricted from moving. All shapes and sizes of bicycles could be seen on the roads.
Whereas this trend in use of bicycles is likely to continue even after lockdown, the cycling lanes within the city are limited as they compete with pedestrians and motorists during peak hours.
Dealers in bicycles and spare parts are making a killing for sales which have more than doubled in the last two months.
Ms Rashida Nambajwe, 23, has known bicycle trade from the age of 13 years. She remembers coming to their bicycle and spare parts shop in Katwe with her mother and learning the trade especially during holidays.
Ms Nambajwe knows too well what her clients need. At About 4pm on Wednesday, she was washing one of the second hand bicycles for sale. The family business has been left under her care together with a brother who is a mechanic. Her other brother sells at Nakasero where he operates another shop.
She buys second hand bicycles from South Korea, Japan, American and China.
“Chinese bicycles get damaged faster unless you change some parts. The ones from Dubai, South Korea and other countries are stronger especially the ones from Japan,” Says Nambajwe.
She knows all parts of the bike for the 13 years she has been selling at the shop. Her wit and customer care is evident as she convinces a client to buy a Japanese spokes bike at Shs350, 000 as the lowest she could give him. Her current stock ranges from between 250,000 for Chinese products to Shs500, 000 for bikes from other countries that she says are more durable.
New bicycles range from between Shs500, 000 to 800,000 in shops and even higher in other shopping centres around Kampala. Most people prefer to buy second hand bicycles from retailers in areas like Katwe because they are a bit cheaper.
For the 10 years that Ms Nambajwe has seen her mother’s business grow and dwindle as modes of transport shifted to either vehicles or boda bodas within Kampala, the family could hardly afford rent of Shs850, 000. Better structures sprung up in the neighborhood and in 2018, rent was increased to Shs1 million.
But the lockdown was a life saver for the business.
“We started opening one side of the door to sell to those demanding bicycles in April. Then in May, more customers came and when we were allowed to fully open towards the end of May, we were selling at least four to five bicycles a day. “
Ms Nambajwe adds;
“Before the lockdown, we could stay the whole day or for days without anyone buying a bicycle. Some would just bring the bicycles for children for repair. Then we started selling more of Japanese car spare parts. But still, the sales were low. Some months we could even fail to raise rent.”
There are many sides to a successful business because there are good sale days and really bad ones. But for a person who has seen the money and knows how to make it out of whatever situation a business is in, Nambajwe quit her high schooling to join her mother in keeping an already failing business alive.
“I wanted to be a doctor but things didn’t go as I had planned. I was doing MEG/Islam (Mathematics, Economics, and Geography). I left school in 2018 and decided to make money instead since what I was studying for was to get money.”
Her uncle trained her to account for every coin in business. Nambajwe says she knows enough in book keeping and handling of money in the business even though she did not go through formal education to learn them.
“Sometimes my Mum comes here but she now trusts me in handling this business. I also do repairs. I learnt it from my brother.”
Her dream is to grow and have her own business so that she can lead a happy and comfortable decent adult life.
Mr John Turyamwijuka’s hands have known nothing but grease from his early twenties. Now 55 years old, the proud father of 17 from Rukungiri district has three wives and still working as hard in his makeshift bicycle repair workshop to fend for his family.
When Uganda was put under lockdown occasioned by coronavirus on March 30, even private vehicles were not allowed on the road. Most people opted for bicycles as a means of transport since boda bodas were not allowed to carry passengers to observe social distancing measures. Most Ugandan roads lack cycling lanes but that did not deter people from venturing out since non-essential motorists were no longer on the road.
Mr Turyamwijuka watched as more people demanded for his repair service that could hardly earn him a decent meal before the lockdown. But now, he earns about thrice his income before lockdown.
The coronavirus lockdown was a mixed bag of fortunes for him. His bicycle repair work was jump started from April as the lockdown tied people to their homes.
The president advised people to cycle for their health and to enable social distancing with one cyclist on a bike. Those who had given up on using bicycles due to traffic congestion in the city quickly picked them from wherever they had hidden even the old bikes. Mr Turyamwijuka repairs more than 15 bikes per day compared to two to five before the lockdown.
“Most people have bought sports bikes and I now repair mainly such.”
He is not educated and opted for mechanics as a way of life. His hope is to educate most of his children so they can have a better life. Some of his family members are in Rukungiri while others are at his smaller home in Banda.
His was a quest to be a loving father and a bread winner. He has skills to work on any type of bicycle.
“I want to be remembered as a man who worked hard for his family and built for them a home in Kampala. I do want people to think I was idling in Kampala doing nothing.”
Mr Turyamwijuka has a small home in Banda, a Kampala Suburb, that he says he bought from Uganda Railways.
“My challenge has always been not having someone to hold my hands and support me. Sometimes I get loans of about Shs1.5 million and I have to work to support the needs of all my children. The most challenging has been school fees,” Mr Turyamwijuka tells Daily Monitor.
So without an education, he took to learning bike mechanics from his uncle who lived at Kitagati at the border between Uganda and Tanzania in the 1980s.
He went on to work as a bike repairman in Congo, Zaire before returning and settling with his family in marrying one wife after the other till he was shocked to have three with 17 children.
Because life in Banda, a Kampala suburb was taking a toll on him with dwindling income as more people preferred to use motorcycles and cars as their means of transport, Mr Turyamwjuika saved all he could to build permanent houses for all his three wives in the village. This however prevented him from schooling all his children. So some have taken to boda boda riding and others are in the village with their mothers while others have taken to bicycles and spare parts businesses.
At about 1pm on Wednesday, Mr Turyamwijuka was with four of his sons at his makeshift garage at the police checkpoint opposite Mogas station in Banda. The scorching sun let loose as he worked on a damaged sports bike wheel, realigning and fitting new spokes. His fore head glistened with sweat as he wiped it with the back of his greasy hand.
He has been by the road side for such a long time. Mr Turyamwijuka saw most of the buildings near his work station rise and the once dusty road constructed to a wider tarmac with two lanes. He survived losing his space to Kampala Capital City Authority several times during road constructions but is glad to be where he can earn a living for his family.
For a man who wants to be remembered as one who raised disciplined children, Mr Turyamwijuka works alongside one of his youngest sons, Mutatine Emmanuel, 14. At Vineyard Christian School in Banda, Mutatine has not had the privilege to have sophisticated technology to aid his learning. He has never used a computer. When Daily Monitor gave him a tablet to write his name and that of his father, it took him about four to five minutes as he searched for a letter at a time to spell the names.
Mutatine is a Primary Seven candidate hoping to sit for his Primary Leaving Examinations, PLE in November or December this year depending on how Uganda National Examinations Board will adjust the time table for the National Exams. Though he is not sure his father can afford to take him to his first choice school, Kings College Buddo, Mutatine dreams of becoming a doctor one day. He speaks good English and enjoys making his own money.
He saves part of his money and uses some to buy reading materials especially PLE pull outs in the newspapers.
“My work at the garage here with my father does not stop me from reading my books. I stay home over the weekends and spend my time reading. I will pass well. I want to become a doctor. I am just repairing my bike to save some money to help with my school requirements when school reopens. Yesterday I made Shs10, 000 and I was very happy.” Says Mutatine.
He adds;
“This bike could not break and the chains were long. So I had to adjust them and repair the brake system. It was easy learning how to do it. I have learnt a lot from my father. Now I can assemble a bike, repair it especially like this one for children. After finishing work here, I rush home, freshen up and revise my books.”
In his numerous address to the nation during the coronavirus pandemic situation, President Yoweri Museveni has always advised Ugandans to embrace cycling for physical exercise and as a way of social distancing.
To those who know the health benefits, it has been a welcome message while those who do not know how to ride have learnt and used for short distance journeys to get home essentials.
Bicycles were first introduced in Uganda in 1903 during the colonial era. They were later given to Buganda courts and used to transport chiefs and kings in place of the stretcher.
It was a prestige to own a bicycle but modernization that introduced faster modes of transport had displaced bicycle riders from most urban centres.
Solution Journalism - Uganda 