From mothers who had special toddler seats at the front of their bikes, to children with their backpacks on their way to school, the lanes were filled with the average Amsterdam resident.
We saw men in suits with satchels looped across their sides, women in skirts, high heels and stockings and grandfathers with grandkids in a carrier at the front especially made to carry children.
The wide roads are designed that the middle lane is used by the light railway mass transit system, two lanes straddle the rail line for the vehicular traffic and then the extreme side lanes on either side are for bicycles and scooters.
I was having a chat with a Spanish colleague on a recent work assignment in Johannesburg. A lady came up to greet me, someone I had worked with before but couldn’t remember her name. In the course of catching up I asked her if she was still in Nairobi, to which she burst out laughing and said that people always confuse her for a Kenyan. Before you judge me, she looked totally Kenyan, down to the ubiquitous Darling braids that she had on her hair. My Spanish colleague was tickled at how we Africans could distinguish between countries. Without missing a beat I asked him if he was able to distinguish between Europeans. “Actually, yes,” he realised. “The Dutch, for example, are always the fit ones.”
Anyone who visits the Dutch city of Amsterdam will understand why. A few weeks ago, I visited the city and we had two days of meetings that started early in the morning. As our shuttle weaved through the morning traffic, we noticed the dedicated cycling lanes that are for the exclusive use of bicycle riders.
From mothers who had special toddler seats at the front of their bikes, to children with their backpacks on their way to school, the lanes were filled with the average Amsterdam resident. We saw men in suits with satchels looped across their sides, women in skirts, high heels and stockings and grandfathers with grandkids in a carrier at the front especially made to carry children. The wide roads are designed that the middle lane is used by the light railway mass transit system, two lanes straddle the rail line for the vehicular traffic and then the extreme side lanes on either side are for bicycles and scooters.
And without any fear of contradiction, every single person on those bicycles was fairly fit! At the offices where our meetings were taking place, every bathroom was equipped with a shower cubicle to allow those cycling to work the opportunity to freshen up before starting their work day. Some of the executives we were meeting sailed past us at the security gate with a cheery wave. Yes, executive vice presidents on bicycles. In suits. Totally mind blowing and very humbling for the Kenyans amongst us who were used to the German-engineered chauffeured stereotype of a corporate titan. As Maslow’s hierarchy of needs demonstrates, the Dutch are at the top of the self-actualisation chain.
It dawned on me as my Spanish colleague was defining the typical Dutch person, that for a country with Dutch origins – South Africa has maintained fairly minimal ties to its original colonial masters. Even though the Cape was originally discovered by the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias around 1488, Cape Town was established as a halfway station between the Netherlands and South East Asia by the sea faring Dutch traders. The Dutch East India Company set up shop in Cape Town in 1652 to provide fresh water, vegetables and meat on their way to South East Asia to buy spices and silk.
The rest is over 300 years of history. However, in a classic Shakespearean twist to the tale, the South African Presidency’s website reporting on a 2015 upcoming visit from the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte cited that “the bilateral relationship between South African and the Netherlands is cordial and multifaceted. The Dutch activists and later the Dutch government played a critical part in the international struggle against apartheid.” Three hundred years later, a nation had transformed itself from virulent slave owning colonialists to human rights and apartheid bashing activists.
Three hundred plus years to turn 180 degrees. And here I am thinking that we can turn the virulent, public funds eating, Kenyan corruption frenzy in my lifetime. Maybe not. But we can restore dignity and enhance the quality of life for our motorised vehicular crazed culture by building walking and biking lanes in our large cities not only for the thousands of citizens who already walk and cycle to work but for many of us who’d want to use this healthier option. Often in the mornings I see a neighbour of European extraction riding his bicycle to work.
Often in the mornings, I say a silent prayer for this courageous but categorically mad man that battles matatus, overlappers, boda bodas and who-knows-what-else-will-come-at-him. I doff my hat to his zest for life and the adrenalin pumping Nairobi commute. But, more importantly, I doff my hat to the bicycle loving Dutch.
