On Youth And Savings: An Essay

It was midday Friday in East Africa, the hot equatorial sun oppressively cast its heat on the small truck-stop town. A group of teenagers sat idly near their motorcycles at the public transport stage, chewing khat and waiting for customers. As I walked by they hailed me down, wondering if I needed a ride. I stopped and sat next to one of the youth, greeting him in the local slang. A conversation ensued.
“So why do you use this stuff?” I asked, motioning to his handful of khat, a natural stimulant which causes insomnia and mouth cancer after extended use.
“Do you know the way it makes your penis stand?” He said vulgarly. “I can pop six times in one night. I keep going and going...you know...even until the girl cries for mercy.”
He looked at me with an ugly smile; the khat stuffed into his mouth protruded unattractively beneath his lower jaw. “You know pop, right? You get it?”
He said the word 'pop' in English, but the rest in Swahili. Though I am still learning the language, there isn't a good translation for the word, “ejaculate.”
“It causes impotence you know, if you use it too much.” I said plainly. “It will make it so your penis cannot stand anymore unless you use more and more of the drug.”
The kid stared at me shocked. He was obviously a bit concerned about the welfare of his future penis. His friend who had been listening in on the conversation had a worried expression as well, but he spoke up, “It is only if you use the poor quality khat, if you are using the higher quality stuff nothing like that (impotence) will happen to you.” He spoke as if trying to convince himself of the safety of the drug, trying to justify his constant use of it.
I sighed at the futility. Their use of khat was symbolic of the general mentality among the youth: live for the day, don't worry about the future. Yet this mentality is detrimental to one of the fundamental concepts of business: saving money. In a culture where most property is communal, inflation is drastic, and death rates are high, there are plenty of economic and social incentives for not saving. A famous Swahili Proverb: “Haba na haba hujaza kibaba” or “Little by little fills the kibaba measure” reflects the importance of saving, but those sweet words of wisdom are too easily forgotten.
Our conversation continued. “Khat is pretty expensive, right? It seems like the youth here spend quite a bit of money on it, as well as alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes...”
He laughed at the truth in my words. “Ya, it's not so good.” He replied.
By now a small group had gathered around. All the idle youth came to listen to what we were discussing. I looked at the group that was forming, and thought it might be a good chance to pitch an idea to them.
“Guys,” I said, “If you all work together, I think there is tremendous potential to save money and start projects. Perhaps we can reduce the use of drugs, and put the rest toward saving. What do you guys say to joining together and starting a youth group?”
In all honesty, this group of idle youth represented the very blight of this truck-stop town. Their constant drug use causes their poverty and unruly behavior, and their promiscuity facilitates the spread of HIV and other STIs. They embody the very social maladies that most abhor. And because of their behavior, they are often marginalized by community leaders and many others in the community. These youth did not have just monetary poverty, I saw in them a poverty in a sense of purpose and direction. I thought I might try to reach out to them as no one else cared to do. I thought I might be a catalyst for their change.
So we formed a group of motorcycle-taxi drivers. We met weekly, writing minutes for each meeting, drafting a constitution, and electing leaders. They were enthusiastic, contributing to the constitution and the group's rules and regulations. But while we elected leaders, I realized a crucial fact about these youth: they did not trust each other. When they unanimously elected me as treasurer, I understood that they did not trust each other enough to put their own money into any one of their peer's hands. Trust among co-workers and group members is a key element to any success, and their ubiquitous mistrust of each other worried me.
But here was the reality: for nearly a year now I have been watching these young motorcycle-taxi drivers throw away their money on drugs and prostitutes. At the end of the week they are left with naught but a an empty pocket and a mouthful of complaints about their own state of poverty. They talk about how life would be so much better if they had some money. They each dream of owning their own motorcycles one day. I approached them with the answer to one part of small business: a business plan. Here was the plan.
“You all rent your motorcycles, right? Wouldn't it be better to own your own instead?”
They all nodded in excited agreement. I continued.
“There are 15 of us. If we save 50 shillings per day, it will take about 100 days to buy our first motorcycle. That first motorcycle will be given to one of our group members. They will then pay rent toward our group savings so we can purchase another. With that savings, we will be able to get another in 76 days. Then, with both of those motorcycles paying group rent, we can purchase the third motorcycle in 58 days. And the next in 46 days. And so on. If we follow this model, we can all be owners of our own motorcycle. What do you all think?”
They nodded vigorously.
I smiled at how receptive this group was at saving money together. This was the most challenging part of the business plan, yet it seemed to be unanimously agreed upon.
But my positive sentiments lasted for just moments. One of the members voiced his opinion, “Why can't we just write a proposal and ask for money from your country so we can just get motorcycles for free?”
Everyone thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. “Yes, that would be much easier,” said another member. “Let's do that.”
I sighed deeply. The availability of donor funding in developing nations breaks a fundamental concept of how business is done in the United States: saving and building capital, borrowing against an interest rate, and then running a business with a debt to pay. Despite the donor funding I still advocate savings. Saved money is different than regular money. Saved money has the value of one's own time and hard work attached to it, so therefore one's own care. Projects which have one's own money invested are much more likely to succeed. His suggestion was like poison to the progress of our group, but revealed the lack of trust and lack of discipline amongst them.
The group was stuck. They were all loath to save money together, so our meetings began to lack substance. Each consecutive meeting brought fewer members - only the ones who still had some hope that free motorcycles would be on the way showed up - until the group faded away completely. The opportunity for these youth to change was just a sweet fragrance on a passing wind. I was left with just the bitter thoughts of what could have been.

As I was making my usual stroll around my truck stop town, one of the members from our dissolved group came up to me and said, “Ever since we started that group, I have been saving on my own. Already I have quite a bit saved to buy my own motorcycle. I am trying to start my own group to continue this project, so if I get some others, please join us. If I don't get others, I will save my own money and eventually purchase my own.” His words were like sweet music. All of the time I thought I had wasted, all of the words I thought had fallen on deaf ears- this young man redeemed it all. I just stood there smiling genuinely at him. It was worth the effort.