Riders of Sudan
> These hot-rod rickshaw drivers are willing to splash cash to decorate and modify their tuk-tuks to win customers
WITH more a splutter than a roar, Baha alDin Yassin – alias ‘Tiger’ – tears off down Khartoum’s sand-lined streets in his three-wheeled motor rickshaw on the prowl for fares.
With his tiger-striped seats, a tiger’s head painted on his windscreen, tiger spelled in Arabic across the back of his rickshaw and a stereo blasting out Bob Marley, Tiger has spent more than a month’s wages on his wheels – and he doesn’t even own them.
“I just rent it for 50 Sudanese pounds [SDG] (RM31.90) a day,” Tiger says, scanning for customers from behind a pair of wraparound shades.
With thousands of the Indianbuilt, tin tuk-tuks on Khartoum’s streets as well as a fleet of ageing yellow taxis and battered minibuses, the competition is fierce.
But Tiger belongs to a select group of rickshaw drivers prepared to fork out weeks’ worth of pay on their vehicles, despite being among the lowest paid in a country where the average GDP per capita is just US$4 (RM15.20) per day.
“The work depends on how nice the rickshaw looks,” Tiger says.
On average, he makes between SDG80 and SDG150 (RM51 and RM95.70) per week, but thought nothing of spending SDG1,000 (RM638) decorating his hot-rod tiger tuk-tuk.
“If the rickshaw is good, the work is good,” he says, convinced that his tiger motif, taken from the name of the rickshaw’s lawn-mower strength, would bring in more fares.
Tiger’s unique style has won him loyal customers. Aklilu Ghebre Michael, a teacher of Eritrean origin, regularly uses Tiger’s rickshaw.
“I like the design and the safety of it,” Aklilu says. “I feel safer than in the other rickshaws that I use.”
Although their small size means they can nip through the jams clogging Khartoum’s main roads, the tuk-tuks are also accident prone.
But a driver who has spent more money on his rickshaw is likely to take better care of it and drive more carefully over Khartoum’s potholed streets – or so the thinking goes.
And the drivers’ insistence on spending their hard-earned cash has generated big money for the men who make a living modifying the rickshaws.
On a sun-baked road running through the Sahafa neighbourhood, a handful of workshops that customise the motor rickshaws has sprung up.
Mohammed al-Zubayr – nicknamed Tamody – has built a thriving business refitting rickshaws, and now employs seven men.
He says souping up their vehicles is a wise investment for the drivers. “The customers stop the nice rickshaws. People prefer rickshaws which have cassettes and accessories, nice lights.”
Many just want new covers for their seats, while others want wheel spikes attached, or stereo systems fitted behind the seats.
Tamody is happy to oblige, but some requests have proved too much for him. “Some of them want to put air conditioning inside their rickshaw, or close it completely to protect from the rain.”
Darting from rickshaw to rickshaw lined up outside his workshop, the stockily-built Tamody recalls some drivers had even asked him to fix satellite dishes to the canvas roofs so they can watch television as they drive.
There is another reason, Tamody says, that some drivers plough their hard-earned money into their rickshaws – despite many not owning them.
“They have to make it look nice for them to drive in a good mood, even if it costs money.”
The drivers work long hours in the dusty air and searing heat of Khartoum, without any guarantee of a set wage.
Still buzzing around the city’s streets, reggae playing from a speaker in the back, Tiger says he has managed to make his work bearable.
“Your rickshaw is like your house,” he says. “If you treat your rickshaw like your house, then you can work in comfort.” – AFP-Relaxnews