Dávid from Zambia – XXXI. Blog Post

Pothole repair for half a dollar a day? 

I don't know the guy personally, but I definitely recognize him from sight. Here in Zambia, there's a service called Busfare, which works similarly to a taxi, but it's much cheaper. The main difference between the two is that taxis take you from point A to point B for a set price, and you travel privately (even alone if you want), whereas Busfare drivers take you from A to B with other passengers, but for much less money. Taxis, meanwhile, are in great condition, while Busfare vehicles are the opposite:

Old, worn-out cars. Most of them would belong in a junkyard by now. Some of the cars drive around with broken shock absorbers or their undercarriages are so rusted that you can literally see through them while driving. The trunk flaps open and shut over potholes because it's completely broken, the doors don't work (if they're even there), and so on.

In my opinion, it's hilarious to travel in these. I actually enjoy it, not just because it's cheap, but mainly because most of the drivers are huge characters and really cool, and we always make friends with all the passengers.

So how does the guy in the picture fit into all this?

Well, despite these Busfare cars being in such awful condition, they really tear up the asphalt. These cars travel short distances (maximum 15 km), but they do this up to 150 times a day (I'm not exaggerating). The long-term result is that the road quality gets severely damaged.

The guy in the picture lives off this... or at least, he tries to!

He wakes up in the morning, grabs his little shovel, heads out to the wrecked area, and attempts to repair the damage caused by the cars using sand and gravel. He does this for half a dollar a day. When he first told me how much he makes, I thought he was exaggerating... Then one day, we were passing by this road in a Busfare, and our driver gave the guy 2 Zambian Kwacha (about 24 Hungarian Forints).

So, I asked how the pothole repair guy works and how much he gets paid. The answer was: these pothole repair guys are volunteers. They do this work because they probably can't find jobs elsewhere, so they try to be as creative and resourceful as possible when it comes to earning money.

So, the pothole repair guy only gets "paid" when drivers, like the one we had, donate – expressing gratitude and appreciation for the work. Yes, they call it "shame money"... but it's probably even less than that. If there aren't any generous and kind drivers, the day ends with no pay. Eight hours of work for nothing. Then, the next day, it starts all over again.

Since we've been in Zambia, I haven't seen a day go by when this guy isn't out there working.