SUAME MAGAZINE: AN INDUSTRIAL JUNGLE

SUAME MAGAZINE

AN INDUSTRIAL JUNGLE

SUAME MAGAZINE

THE GARDEN CITY ANTHOLOGY AN INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JÖRG HILLEBRAND

T S U R T

S E G A IM

”No matter the economy in the jungle i will never eat glass. It´s not pride but Christ.”

Osama, a local spareparts dealer

Obi is a scrap metal dealer from Northern Ghana

THE SUAME MAGAZINE: AN INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER “As he pours dangerous molten metal from a home-made furnace at a ferocious 600 degrees, a worker flings a skimpy T-shirt around his head for protection. Another worker grabs a chunk of mud and shoves it into the makeshift foundry to plug the flaming lava flow of molten metal. None have safety helmets or other equipment. Their neighbours at nearby industrial workshops are wearing plastic flip-flops and shorts. Their welding cables are ripped and exposed, risking a high-voltage shock, and few of the welders wear safety glasses.

Safety is an afterthought for the 200,000 people in horrific conditions in one of Africa’s biggest industrial slums. Survival comes first, and they need to eat.

The cluster, known as Suame Magazine because of its origins among the artillery-makers at a local armoury, is a 180-hectare cluster of 12,000 repair shops and small scale metal works on the outskirts of Ghana’s second-biggest city, Kumasi.

At first glance, it seems like a vast wasteland of tin shacks and wrecked cars and impoverished mechanics, where the dust-choked air is filled with hammering, banging, pounding, shouting and the sound of generators due to a severe energy-crisis in Ghana.

Some look at it as a post-apocalyptic junkyard but others see hope for the future. For the artisans themselves it is simply the major economic platform of the region. If the small-scale artisans and repairmen can be linked into the supply chain of multinational corporations, could they escape poverty and work in safer conditions?”

Florin Gheorge, a volunteer at SMIDO (Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization), an umbrella organization.

SUAME MAGAZINE: AN INDUSTRIAL JUNGLE “Today we went shopping for a welding machine and various hardware. At first I wasn’t paying much attention, because there are only so many miles of shops you can look at. But all of the sudden I sat up like a dog in a car who sees another one on the street. All around me, the shops were selling grinding wheels and welding masks. We had arrived in Kumasi Suame Magazine, the part of town where metal things are made, cut apart, and made into other metal things. Suame is the neighborhood of Kumasi that it is located in, but nobody could tell me why they call the district ‘magazine’... if it’s related to the English word at all, perhaps it has to do with the fact that a magazine can mean something that holds lots of things, as in a gun magazine.

Words cannot describe this place. The closest comparison I can make is to the set of Waterworld, on land in Bladerunner world, designed by the lost boys from Peter Pan, managed

by Doozers from Fraggle Rock, and staffed by Vulcan and his cyclops minions from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It is a large junkyard, maybe five square miles (I never saw the end of it), with only a few streets running through it, and little tin shops crammed in between towering piles of scrap where people were either making something metal, destroying something metal, or selling the tools and hardware that are required to do those two things.

Cracks between buildings that I would have never thought to squeeze down were major thoroughfares. Emungous chunks of machinery- such as a giant bulldozer tread or an engine block taller than me from some unfathomably huge vehicle- appeared to have been sitting there for years since the buildings around them had grown up and prevented access by anything large enough to budge them. Tractors were being stripped for parts while next door teams of workers swarmed over a minivan, putting it together. Piles of half-stripped forklifts. Jungles of scrap pipe. The din of a thousand hammers. I know when you picture this in your head you are picturing these shops and piles as distict, with open space in between, but there was no open space. You know in Labyrinth when Sarah wakes up outside the Goblin City in the junkyard? It was like that, only with bigger junk, and people lived and worked there. I keep comparing it to movies because there is nothing in America like this, not that I’ve ever heard of. Another apt comparison would be any interior shot of a Borg ship from Star Trek.

I was reeling. Most things were being made out of other things. Everyone was welding, grinding, hammering, bolting, smelting, and chopping. How can I call myself a Rat? How dare I claim to chop? I might as well be knitting doilies compared to this place. I was humbled and stunned. I’ll go back to take pictures, but they won’t do it justice. Even a hundred pictures of a hundred different activities wouldn’t do it, because you just wouldn’t conceive of the density of those activities. You’d have to do what I did, be led down twisting corridors and around rotting cranes for a mile, and see the thousand activities in action.

I was so stunned and excited that I kept myself composed, but when I got home and was alone I cried. I cried.

I had slipped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God. So much beauty, so much creation, so much DOing...” an unknown travellers impression

Landsat satellite images showing land cover change of Kumasi between 1986 and 2003.

KUMASI, A WEST-AFRICAN CITY IN GHANA ASHANTI Kumasi is the capital of an ancient West-African empire: Ashanti. At the peak of its power, this Empire occupied large parts of present day Ghana and Ivory Coast. Kumasi is the centre of the Ashanti culture.

This culture still plays an important role in everyday life in Kumasi. As the capital of the Ashanti region and with the Asantehene’s palace in the centre of the city, Kumasi has been a powerful alternative locus of political power to Accra and often a focus of political opposition.

INFORMAL CITY Petty trading and informal sector businesses form the base of Kumasi’s economy and they probably represent over 70 per cent of employment in Kumasi. Adaptation and the use of public space is therefore a very common feature in Kumasi. Hawking and street vending is present throughout the city. Small kiosks which house little shops, chop bars (places to eat), sewers, barbers and many more are an urban element of every street.

ECONOMIC NETWORK Kumasi is often regarded as the commercial capital of Ghana, with its Kejetia market rivalling Onitsha in Nigeria as West Africa’s largest open-air market. Part of Kumasi’s relative prosperity derives from the timber forest of the surrounding region and natural resources such as gold, rubber, cacao and bauxite but it is also renowned for its local enterprise and artisan skills, particularly in the areas of vehicle engineering in Suame Magazine and furniture-making, which serve clienteles from surrounding countries.

CONGESTION, DISCONNECTION AND POLLUTION Traffic congestion is a major issue in Kumasi. Even outside rush hour, it can take a long time to reach a nearby destination. This congestion coincides with a large amount of smog and air pollution, worsened by the bad condition of the old vehicle stock. Congestion, however, is not the only problem for public transport in Kumasi. Many roads are not paved or well maintained; certainly during the rain season, this creates inaccessibility and disconnection for certain areas of the city.

EXPLOSIVE POPULATION GROWTH Kumasi has known an enormous explosion in growth over the last decades. Today, Kumasi has a population of about 2 million people. It is the second biggest city in Ghana. With a grow rate of over 3,5 percent per annum, it is today growing much faster than the capital Accra.

CLIMATE The Ashanti region is located in a tropical forest zone. The city therefore knows heavy tropical rainfalls alternated with periods of drought. Deforestation, erosion and frequent floods are important issues in Kumasi. Kumasi is located above an increased soil water level. Many small rivers origin in the area around Kumasi. This makes water pollution, also of the subsoil water, a serious environmental problem.

Suame Magazine, im Sprachgebrauch einfach “Magazine” genannt. Die Luft ist voller Staub vom Harmattan, einem Saharawind, der grosse Mengen Staub und Sand mit sich führt.

Suame Magazine, aka “Magazine�. The air is filled with dust from the Harmattan, a wind from the Sahara, which carries along huge amounts of sand and dust.

Die zentrale Metallschrott- Sammelbรถrse im Magazine

The central assembly point for scrapmetals in the Magazine

Metallchrott wird 端berall in Kumasi gesammelt und im Magazine verkauft.

Scrapmetals are collected all throughout Kumasi and sold in the Magazine.

Einer von vielen Metallschrottank채ufern im Magazine

One of many scrapmetal buyers in the Magazine

Um die wertvolleren Halbedelmetalle zu gewinnen wird das wertlose Restmaterial verbrannt.

In order to gain the semiprecious metals the residual materials are burned.

Alles Lebnsnotwendige und mehr wird von umherziehenden Stassenh채ndlern aneboten. Billige chinesische Waren sind in Ghana weitverbreitet.

Street vendors offer practically everything for the daily needs and noneeds of the workers. Cheap chinese goods are widespread in Ghana.

“Standford Bridge”, eine von zahlreichen Brücken, die den kleinen Akoso Fluss überqueren. Offenbar ist der Eigentümer ein Fan vom FC Chelsea, deren Fussballstadion “Stamford Bridge” heißt.

“Standford Bridge”, one of many bridges that cross the small “Akosu” river. The owner seems to be a fan of FC Chelsea. Their stadium is called “Stamford Bridge”.

Aisha ist aus dem Norden Ghanas und arbeitet als Lehrling in einer Nähwerkstatt. Sie holt Wasser aus dem nahgelegenen Fluss.

Aisha is from Northern Ghana and works as an apprentice in a tailor´s shop. She fetches water from the nearby river.

Der kleine “Akosu” Fluß, die angrenzenden Hütten sind in der Regenzeit Überschwemmungsgebiet.

The small “Akosu� river, the adjoining shacks are in a flood prone area during the rain season.

Ein grosser Teil der BevÜlkerung ist aus dem muslimisch geprägten Norden Ghanas. Im Hintergrund befindet sich ihre Moschee.

Large parts of the population are from Northern Ghana.

Their mosque is in the backgrund.

Die meisten Ashantis sind Christen.

Most Ashantis are Christians.

Joyce, die achtj채hrige Tochter einer Arbeitsmigrantin aus dem Norden Ghanas. Das Magazine ist ihr Zuhause.

Joyce, the eight-year old daughter of a work migrant from Northern Ghana. The magazine is her home.

Eine VW Werkstatt

A Volkswagen workshop

Fahrzeuge, die nicht mehr repariert werden, werden komplett ausgeschlachtet und in den Einzelteilen weiterverkauft. Nahezu jedes Fahrzeugteil wird in einem anderen Auto wiederverwertet. Was nicht baugleich ist, wird passend gemacht.

Broken vehicles are dismantled and sold in pieces. Nearly each vehicle part can be reused in another car. What doesn´t fit will be made to fit.

Master Aleewa´s Werkstatt ist spezialisiert auf die Reparatur von älteren VolkswagenModellen bis Golf IV. Aleewa lebt mitlerweile in Deutschland.

Master Aleewa´s workshop. He repairs older Volkswagen models up to Golf IV. Aleewa lives now in Germany.

Mike leitet jetzt die Werkstatt.

Mike is the new manager of the workshop.

Die Reparatur neuerer Autos ist schwierig, da es nur wenige Werkstätten gibt, die computergestützte Diagnosen durchführen und anschliessend auch reparieren können. Bei fehlendem Fachwissen werden elektronische geregelte Baugruppen ausgebaut und durch andere ersetzt. Die Reparatur neuer Fahrzeuggenerationen ist eine der größten Herausforderungen für die Zukunft des Magazine.

Maintainance of newer cars is diffucult and one the major challenges for the Magazine in the future. There are only a few workshops which use autodiagnostics. Due to a lack of knowhow electronic components are often dismantled and replaced by older ones.

Mike erh채lt eine telefonische Ersatzteilanfrage. Er hat die kleine Pumpe in seinem Ersatzteillager. Sie kostet 20 Euro. Die einzelnen Werkst채tten sind lose miteinander vernetzt.

Mike receives a sparepart request by phone. He has the small pump in his stock. It sells for 20 Euros. The small workshops are linked among each other.

Herstellung von LKW- Anh채ngern f체r die Beladung von 70 Tonnen. Importierte Anh채nger haben nur ein Gesamtgewicht von 40 Tonnen. Ghanas Fernstrassen sind daf체r nicht geeignet.

Production of truck trailers with a load capacity of 70 tonnes. Imported trailers only have a capacity of 40 tonnes. Ghanas trunk road system is not applicable to such loads.

Die Kunden f端r diese Spezialanfertigungen kommen aus ganz West- Afrika.

Clients for these custom-made productions come from all over West-Africa.

Importierte LKW Achsen, vorwiegend von europ채ischen Herstellern. Der Handel mit Ersatzteilen wird von im Ausland lebenden Ghanaern dominiert.

Imported truck aixles, predominatly from european manufacturers.

Sparepart trading is dominated by Ghaneans who live abroad.

Mary, eine von Tausenden Strassenverk채uferinnen im Magazine.

Mary, one of a thousand streetsellers in the Magazine

Der innere Teil des Magazine besteht aus kleinen Metallcontainern, Holzh체tten und Stellfl채chen. Hier sind Kleinh채ndler und Werkst채tten angesiedelt.

The inner part of the Magazine consists of small metal containers, wooden shacks and storage space.Here are the retail dealers and small workshops.

2010

2013

After we talked in english for a while the owner began to speak german with me and told me he was living in Germany. He is one of many Ghaneans abroad who make a living by doing spareparts business. He upgraded his workshop in 2013.

Nachdem wir englisch sprachen begann der Besitzer auf einmal Deutsch zu sprechen und sagte mir, dass er in Deutschland lebt.

Er ist einer von vielen Ersatzteilh채ndlern, die ihren Lebensunterhalt mit Im- und Export verdienen.

Eine Mechanikerwerkstatt

A mechanical workshop

Ein Minibus, der zum Trotro umbebaut wird. Trotros sind private Sammeltaxis und das verbreiteste รถffentliche Verkehrsmittel in Ghana.

A minibus which will be redesigned into a trotro. which are privately owned minibus share taxis used by 70% of Ghanaian commuters.

Ein typischer Werkzeugbedarfsladen im Magazine.

A typical toolshop in the Magazine

Eine elektromechanische Werkstatt. Seit 2010 ist Ghanas Stromversorgung unregelm채ssig.

An electromechanical workshop. Ghana suffers over persistent, irregular and unpredictable electric power outages since 2010. The frequent blackouts are caused by a power supply shortage.

Seit Jahrzehnten bietet das Magazin unterschiedlichste Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten und ist deshalb Anziehungspunkt für Jugendliche aus dem ganzen Land. Eine typische Ausbildung zum “Master apprentice” dauert fünf Jahre.

Danach folgt meist der Weg in die Selbstständigkeit durch die Eröfnung einer eigen Werkstatt. Viele verbringen ihr ganzes berufliches Leben im Magazine.

For decades the Magazine offers occupations requiring formal training for youths from all over Ghana. To become a master apprentice takes five years.

Afterwards you are entitled to open your own workshop. Many spend their whole professional life in the Magazine.

Alhaji ist im Ruhestand. Er kommt aber noch jeden Tag an seine alte Arbeitsst채tte.

Er kam als Jugendlicher in den F체nfziger Jahren aus dem Norden Ghanas in das Magazine und lebt bis heute dort..

Alhaji is a pensionaire. As an adloscent he came to the Magazine in the 1950ies from Northern Ghana. Everyday he returns to his old workshop.

Die H체tten dienen sowohl als Wohnquartiere und auch als Werkst채tten.

A mixed zone of dwelling places and workshops

Der Schmelzofen einer Giesserei A melting furnace

Teile, die in grĂśĂ&#x;eren Mengen benĂśtigt werden, werden im Magazine gegossen.

Parts, which are needed in larger quantities, are cast in the Magazine.

Fertiggegossene Motorblรถcke

Ready-cast engine blocks

Eine von unz채hligen Metallwerkst채tten

One of many metal workshops

Uncle Ebo´s Werkstatt mit seinem Lehmofen.

Er ist auf die Verformung von Kunststoff spezialisiert.

Uncle Ebo´s workshop with a clay oven. He is an expert in plastic forming.

Ebo baut kaputte Bremslichtverkleidungen aus Kunststoffplatten nach.

Ebo rebuilds made to measure taillight housings from plain plastic material.

Eine von vielen Kleinschmieden

One of many blacksmith´s shops

A cookshop

Eine Gark端che

A cookshop

Fufu, ein fester Brei aus Maniok oder Yams und Kochbananen, wird gestampft.

Fufu is a staple food. It is made with cassava flour. Other flours, such as semolina, maize flour or mashed plantains may take the place of cassava flour.

Werkst채tten und Wohnh체tten liegen hier unmittelbar beieinander.

Workshops and dwellings are in the same place.

“Madame” führt eine Schneiderei an der Japan House Kitchen. Der nahgelegene Akosu Fluss versorgt sie mit Wasser. In der Regenzeit ist er stark hochwassergefährdet. Die Landbesitzverhältnisse sind dort unklar, sodass das Land einfach bebaut wurde. Hier leben ca. 15-20 Frauen zusammen. Die älteren Frauen bestimmen die Regeln dieser Wohngemeinschaft.

“Madame�, she runs a small tailor´s shop at the Japan House Kitchen. The site is by the riverbed of the Akosu river, which provides water but is a flood prone area at the same time. Landownership is unclear.

The land is thus free and available for housing. 15-20 women live here. Apart from the hazardous environmental circumstances the site is well organized and follows a strict task management, which is directed by the senior women.

Mary arbeitet in Madame´s Schneiderei.

Mary is as seamstress in Madame´s workshop.

“Japan House Kitchen”, ist eine typische Garküche, die eineimische Speisen zu günstigen Preisen anbietet.

“Japan House Kitchen” is a typical cookshop which offers local dishes at affordable prices.

The dwellings are wooden shacks covered with truck canvasses to protect them from the rains. The shacks are 8-10 square metres. In each room sleeps one family or two to three persons.

Die Wohnh端tten sind mit LKW Planen abgedichtet. Auf 8-10 Quadratmetern schlafen eine Familie oder zwei bis drei Personen.

GroĂ&#x;e Teile des Magazine sind von Arbeitmigrannten aus dem Norden illegal bewohnt. Dort sind die Grundbesitzverhältnisse unklar. Die BehĂśrden tolerieren dies gegen entsprechende Bezahlung stillschweigend.

Huge parts of the Magazine are poulated by squatters. They are work migrants from Northern Ghana with a differen tribal background. Landownership is unclear. The authorities agree tacitly in exchange for a small bribe.

Eine von unzähligen “chopbars” (Garküchen) im Magazine

One of many “chopbars” (cookshops) in the Magazine

Auf der New Road befinden sich unz채hlige, kleinere Ersatzteill채den.

Most of the small sparepart dealers are on New Road

Ein Strassenprediger in seiner “one man church�

A street preacher in his “one man church�

LKW Blattfedern

Coil springs for trucks

Offiso Road. Hier sind die Großhändler ansässig, die das Magazine mit importierten Ersatzteilen versorgen. Sie repräsentieren den wohlhabendenden Teil des Magazine. Von hier aus findet auch der Weiterverkauf in alle Teile West-Afrikas statt.

Offiso Road. Here are the wholesalers who supply the Magazine with imported secondhand spareparts. They represent the wealthier part of the Magazine. They sell their good all over West-Africa

“Azay Motors”, ist der bekannteste Ersatzteilhändler im Magazine. Er agiert international und ist einer der wenigen, der Originalteile importiert. Der Großteil der Ersatzeile im Magazine ist gebraucht und stammt aus in den Herkunftsländern ausgeschlachteten Fahrzeugen, die containerweise importiert werden, um die hohen Importzölle auf komplette Fahrzeuge zu unterlaufen.

“Azay Motors�, is the best-known spareparts dealer in the Magazine. He operates globally and is one of the few, who imports original spareparts. The majority of the spareparts are used and imported from already dismantled cars in order to avoid the high import duties on overaged vehicles.

Strassenverk채ufer an der Offinso Road

Streetsellers at Offinso Road

Offinso Road bietet auf f체nf Kilometern L채nge alles rund ums Auto.

Offinso Road offers practically everything for cars on five kilometres.

Suame Roundabout ist ein Verkehrsknotenpunkt in Kumasi.

Suame Roundabout ist a major junction in Kumasi.

Maakro Junction während der Rushhour. Im Gebäude der Tankstelle ist “Opportunity International” ansässig, eine der vielen Mikrokreditbanken im Magazine.

Maakro junction during rush hour. Across the street is “Opportunity International�, one of the many micro-finacing banks in the Magazine