All I want for Christmas is... new tires!

The used tire business is big in Liberia, where new tires must be imported by container ship, making them expensive ($90-$250). Instead of purchasing new tires, all taxi drivers and many individuals opt for used tires which are a fraction of the cost ($20-$40), but considerably less reliable, especially when driving on Liberia's rough roads.

Used tires from North America and Europe - often soft snow tires that don't have much tread left - are bought by Ghanaian, Nigerian and Lebanese business owners, packed into 20' or 40' containers and shipped over to Liberia. These containers are put on trucks at the port and taken somewhere like the Red Light market area where they are sold to Liberian tire repair shop owners. These people then take the tires back to their respective tire shops around Liberia.

Drivers getting flat tires will typically choose to have them repaired. In the developed world, a tire is repaired by removing the tire from the rim with a pneumatic machine before glue-covered rubber chords are pushed through the tire using a screw-driver like tool. In Liberia, tires are repaired by first manually prying and banging the tire off the rim. Then, the area around the hole is roughed up from the inside. A piece of inner tube is cut to size and glue is applied to the tube and patch. The glue sets until tacky, and is put over the hole. A steel mallet is used to pound the patch in place, and then the tire is worked back around the tire before being re-inflated.

This is a process I have observed an unfortunate number of times since coming to Liberia. LEAD - being a Liberian non-profit operating on a limited budget - finds itself buying used tires for its grey jeep, the one I typically drive. I have become quite familiar to the PBBBSS PSS PSS PSS PSS PSSS PSSSS PSSSSS PSsssss pssssss psssssss pssssss psssssssssssssssss... sound coming through the open windows of the vehicle after I've blown yet another tire. Although my stomach still turns each time it happens, I've become used to the ritual of changing flats on the roadside and I even carry a towel and water bags with me to clean up my sweaty, red dirt covered self when I'm done. Then, I carefully make my way directly to the nearest tire shop, hoping a second flat doesn't leave me stranded (which has happened on several occasions).

Honestly speaking, if any of my friends in Liberia would like to know where to get a tire repaired, call me at 0880.643.683. I'll be able to tell you that there's a shop in Central Monrovia on Benson Street, in Congo Town on Tubman Boulevard across from Musu's Spot, in Thinker's Village at the truck parking, in Smell-No-Taste across from the Total Station, in Gbarnga by the Ganta parking area, in Ganta on your right before you get to the new UBA bank building, in Buchanan at the Monrovia parking station, on the way to Robertsport right before the checkpoint where you turn left, and in Robertsport near the market if you were to take a right coming in to town. I've been to each of these shops no less than three times; some many more times.

Recently, when a third flat/tire repair in two days nearly caused a friend from the World Bank to miss her flight, I decided it was time to look around town for price quotes on new tires. I drove around Monrovia negotiating my way through six tire shops, and got quotes on tires ranging from very low quality ones for $140 to the knobby ones the mining companies buy at $200.

The prices were higher than I'd hoped, but it was while I was driving around town on Johnson Street for tire quotes that I once again heard that hissing sound coming from my back right tire. A fourth flat tire in three days? It was the straw that broke the camel's back and I made up my mind to work on getting new tires.

While I waited for Matthew (pictured above at the Benson Street tire repair shop) to repair my tire I texted a friend - someone who had often been stranded while we changed tires - to complain about the irony of my situation. To my surprise she texted back telling me that less than an hour earlier she had gone online and donated $300 to my partners account, with 'Two new tires for Derek' in the memo line.

Now convinced that I should go for new tires, I headed home as soon as I had four wheels on the ground. The next morning I got up early to head over to Old Road where I could get the jeep cleaned. It was the first Tuesday of the month and I wanted a clean vehicle for when I'd be driving some of my colleagues over to 'The Office' restaurant after our monthly staff meeting. It was then that, adding insult to injury, I got another flat tire; a puncture in a different spot of the same tire that had been punctured the day before, a 'good' used tire that I'd bought less than 48 hours earlier, a fifth flat in four days.

Yesterday I stopped by Cactus Enterprise on Randall Street to get one last quote. I know the guy there because I used to buy motorcycle oil from him and we got to negotiating. I told him my sob story, and he had compassion. He told me he could get me a solid, quality Chinese tire in the size I need (85R16, 245) for $150, a tire he'd sell to the better funded international NGOs at $190.

Here’s the catch: the quoted price I was given expires “next week Thursday or Friday” when his new shipment of tires is expected to be released from the port, and he'll be raising his prices roughly 20%. Sure, it’s a sales gimmick, but it’s an effective one and I've done my research: all the other tires of this quality cost about $25 more which means the cost for five of them would be $875 for the whole set instead of $750.

Here is my request: whether you support my regular fundraising budget or not, please consider making a one time donation to help me put new tires on the LEAD jeep. At this rate, I'm spending so much time, money and energy repairing flat tires that its actually taking away from time and energies that I could be better spend on LEAD's clients. Its not safe driving on these tires and its NEVER fun getting stranded by two flat tires. Also, when I leave Liberia, I'd like to leave LEAD with a vehicle that will reliably serve the organization for some time to come.

I already have the $300 which has been donated for the specific purpose of getting two new tires, leaving me with $450 to go. If you'd like to buy me one tire for Christmas (my birthday is coming up too...) donate $150, or any amount to help me on my way. In any case, please let me know how much you are giving for the specific cause of putting new tires on the LEAD jeep: I want to make sure that I'm not taking away any money that would otherwise go toward my regular intern budget, putting it in danger of being underfunded.

If you'd like to make a donation for the cause please do so by sending a check to Partners Worldwide at 6139 Tahoe Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49546 or by giving online at www.partnersworldwide.org. Be sure to write Derek's support in the memo/special instructions line. Canadians can have their gifts tax-deductible by writing checks to Stratford CRC with 'Derek Support' in the memo line and mailing them to 190 Althlone Crescent, Stratford, Ontario, N4z 1H9. However you make your donation, please email me at derek.hoogland@gmail.com and let me know how much you are giving. If you'd like to do it anonymously you can make an anonymous gift via any of the above-listed options and then make an anonymous comment with the amount in the comment box below, or contact Partners at 616-818-4900 and ask them to notify me of your gift amount.

Thanks for your support!

Merry Christmas!