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Liberiaâs Green Distribution Model sparks Interest of Enviromentalists
Newsday from WorldwireThousands of men weave through the mortar-blasted streets of Liberiaâs capital, pushing wheelbarrows laden with sacks of rice, onions or anything else in need of fast delivery. They are an industry born of war, and perhaps a solution for the future. This is conclusive proof that Liberia has not slipped into the Stone Age. I believe wheeled carts are definitely Bronze Age.
Doesnât sound as if recycling has become popular in Liberia yet. The Adcouncil needs to get on the stick. Charging as little as a quarter for a delivery, barrow men can make $5 a day -- not bad considering 85 percent of Liberiaâs 3 million people live on less than $1 a day. "Pushing the wheel," as wheelbarrow work is known, got its start after Liberia descended into near-constant civil war 14 years ago and fighters hijacked any car they could get their hands on. An excellent market opportunity for Lowjack. Now it is being eyed as the kind of no-collar labor that could offer a livelihood to some of those very same fighters who know no skill beyond handling a gun. The Aug. 18 peace deal following ex-President Charles Taylorâs flight into exile is meant to end a conflict in which government effectively died and it fell to unions, civic groups and churches to improvise order from chaos. Iâm sure any government headed by Charles Taylor was probably on life support from the get-go. "I used to be a fighter, but now Iâm pushing the wheel," says 24-year old Prince Wilson. Wilson says he was a child soldier for Taylor until he was 11, when Taylorâs forces killed his parents. Killing the parents of your supporters is a definite indication that Taylor didnât have Karl Rove advising him. Later, for lack of other options, he stepped between the handles of a wheelbarrow. "Itâs not good work, but I have no skills," he says.
Personally Iâld give a guy with an AK-47 whatever he wants. Liberiaâs 22 trade unions, representing 40,000 largely low-skilled workers such as tailors, transport workers and farmers, have an important part to play. "Soap-making. Carpentry. Put them in short-term skills training," says Dennis. Or wheelbarrows. Matthew Leeco is the 63-year-old president of the union, founded Aug. 12, 1989. Sitting in his dilapidated office, without electricity like the rest of the blighted city, he recalls that during the fighting "There were wheelbarrows carrying people to hospitals, injured people, pregnant women." It became known as the "push-push" ambulance system. Running an EMT training course for these guys might be worthwhile - no sarcasm intended. As Liberiaâs economy failed, businesses closed and unemployment hit 80 percent. But the wheelbarrow pushers muscled on and the government recognized their union in 1997, the year Taylor became president. Rebels took up arms against him two years later. The efficiency of the wheelbarrow industry stands out against the backdrop of Liberiaâs chaos. Each operator is assigned to one of 20 zones in Monrovia, a city of 1 million, and has a number painted on his barrow. Operators often add a verse from the Bible. But since the June attacks began, weekly union dues of 5 Liberian dollars -- worth about 12 cents -- have gone uncollected, says Leeco. That means no funds for the unionâs repair services or dispute-mediation, he says. An international union could certainly throw some money that direction.
Here is an opportunity for the AFL-CIO to reach out.
If an enviromentalist group bought and donated every industrial motor rusting in a junkyard in the US, think of how many windmills could be manufactured to generate power in Liberia. Maybe I should pitch that to Michael Jackson. Posted by: Superhose 2003-09-29 |
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