Grace a Chine

It seems like all motorbikes here in Mali are of the same kind: Super K. I don’t even know who makes them, but they’re everywhere. I ask one of our local friends why they’re so prevalent. He answers: Grace a Chine! Apparently they’re cheap, sturdy and very very fuel-efficient. It’s wonderful that such a solution exists so that there is usually at least one in most families. Bamako is very large (because so many buildings don’t have more than one floor), and together with the little green buses, these motorbikes carry more than 80% of the souls traveling around.

Another China thought though: there’s a mountain of tiles imported from there in our hotel courtyard. The hotel will use to renovate parts of the building. It seems like a good thing that they were able to get these Chinese tiles cheaper. But I’d really love to see the day when there will be African tiles, radios, bikes etc. around too. If not all over the world, then at least here in Africa.