This has been my last full week in Zambia, I was hoping to make a great deal of progress on the two shipments of bikes to Zimbabwe. But we have been stymied and flummoxed at almost every point.
After waiting in the yard for paperwork three days, the truck finally left Friday last week. This is the same truck I personally loaded so it could depart sooner. I should have known better, it seems there was no rush at all. In fact, its hard to generate any rush on anything here in Africa. The shipment was finally delivered this Monday and the assembly has finally started. Now that the bikes are on the way, the charities we are working with in Zimbabwe are getting very excited and asking for daily updates on our progress.
I wish we had better news for them. We’ve finally received the rest of the bikes from India that we will re-route to Zimbabwe, but we are missing some key parts: the hubs. Last week it suddenly became apparent to me that we have a bit of a divided house here at WBR. I have incorrectly assumed the necessary hubs for Harare have been set aside for those Zimbabwe customers. However, the production schedule for deliveries in Zambia has continued unabated and in the last week we have run out of hubs. Zip, nada, zilch. We are done until we can either obtain more hubs from the Czech supplier, or expedite testing and delivery of the new ones from Eric Chen and KT hubs.
The majority of effort this week has been placating customers on one end and dealing with our supply crisis on the other. We have few options, most of the NGOs in Harare are using end of year funds to purchase the bicycles. If the money is not spent, it is lost. So if we are unable to deliver the bikes in the next few weeks, it will be many more months before we can. This may not sound like an enormous problem, but efficacy of the bike has been proven here in Zambia. The workers who receive the bikes are able to visit more patients, stay with them longer, even get some to a clinic that otherwise would not be able to make the trip. A few months delay could have an enormous impact on both the quality and quantity of care that some of the victims receive. Therefore, the bikes need to go as soon as possible, and we must acquire some hubs as quickly as we can.
After a few calls to Chicago, where WBR is headquartered, and a few more emails, it seems rather obvious that we will not be able to get any of the new hubs in time to meet the deadlines in Harare. So now we must order additional hubs from the Czech Republic and Velo Steel. Not only do we need to go back to that supplier, but, we’ll have to air ship them to Africa. The hubs come in crates of 500, are the size of a sofa and weigh a ¼ ton or more. That’s expensive air-mail. Already, we’re seeing the costs of this little excursion to Zimbabwe getting too high, and we’ve barely started. A bit depressing, but at this point, I’ve got a bit of summit fever and want to get this job done successfully and within the timeframe demanded by our customers. I’d like to make sure the bikes are on the road to Harare – the last few hundred – before I leave, but it will be close. Which in Africa means probably not. But I’m trying anyway.
The other thing I’m trying to do this week is to finalize my next trip. Or two. Tomorrow I’m headed to South Luangwe (Loo-wan-gwa) Park, which is a large reserve in eastern Zambia. I’ve booked a room in a famous lodge that is actually inside the park. I’ll be there two full days; it should be very interesting! A friend of mine has also asked me “why in the world are you going to Africa if you’re not taking the time to see the gorillas?” I think this was an excellent question and good rebuke on my planning. The original plan had included a stop in Cairo for a few days with the pyramids before coming south to Zambia. I had to cut that leg of the journey, the trip was just getting too expensive. But from here, Uganda and the gorillas are only a short hop away. I could fly up, drive out, hike in, drop down and say “howdy” and work my back in about three days. But as I’ve looked at the schedule and the steadily declining balance of my checking account, I decided the gorillas will have to wait for another time. The next trip will have to include the pyramids, gorillas, rhinos and any other animal that I don’t get to see this coming weekend; which better not be many!
Part of the decision to skip the gorillas is also part of the decision to head home a little earlier than originally planned. Now that Dave is back in town, there is less for me to accomplish in the office. Also, I’ve booked a pretty tight schedule back home for the month of September (don’t I always) and a few more days would really help out. That way I could actually get back to Seattle before spending the better part of three more weeks on the road. Be nice to see the house and down load some of these bags.
But first, I have some more safaris! Since the young men are gone, there’s no real reason to be out late before the trip. My flight leaves in the afternoon tomorrow. Coincidently, one of the women from the WBR office is also going. She has some friends in from the states and had booked a trip to the park at the same time. Although they are staying at a different lodge, we’re all traveling together. The good thing is the next post should have some pictures! Take care everyone…
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