Pousse Pousse Making Tour & Local Paper Making

Pousse Pousse Making Tour and Local Paper Making

May 3, 2011

Our ladies group organized a tour of how the Pousse Pousse and Cycle Pousse's are constructed and also a tour of some local Paper Making

Ginette, the organizer, taking a picture of us, as we where taking a picture of her!   She was also our translator, as the Pousse Pousse owner didn't speak English.

Our entourage of pousse pousse's, as there was 8 of us.  We started out at Alliance Francois and doubled up on pousse pousse's.  Our first stop to see how pousse pousses were made.

Deb and Jerry

This is the shop and home of the pousse pousse contractor. (he owns around 400)  There are over 600,000 pousse pousse (both types) in the city of Tamatave alone.

There are 2 types of pousse pousses:

One is the traditional pousse pousse that is pulled manually by foot.  (photo below) These take about 1 week to build and are sold for 1 million airy airy, which is equivilant to $500.00 Cdn.  They are rented out daily for $1,000 airy ( $.50/day Cdn)  The driver needs to cover the $1,000 airy rental cost, plus make enough to support himself and his family.  Average daily income is $2,000 airy airy ($1.00 Cdn) Most drivers don't own their own, they need to rent.

A little example of what the locals go through.  The support arms are at a certain hight for ease of pulling.  At this hight, the wheels turn on there own.  See where Joan's hands are located- in the yellow colouring is where your to hold the poles.  Joan said that it seems pretty easy.  Let's see if she still thinks that after 14 hours in 40+ weather with 100% humidity.


The other is called the cycle pousse, hence a pousse pousse that has a bicycle welded to it.  (photo beside) These are more common now and have only been in circulation for 3 - 4 years.  The cost to build these are 3 million airy airy (equivilent to $1,500.00 ) and take 3 weeks to build.  These are rented out for $5,000 airy airy/day ($2.50 Cdn), and average amount earned daily is $10,000 airy airy($5.00 Cdn).  This means that the drivers have to ensure that they get enough airy ariys to cover the rental costs.  This can be challenging at times, as they still need to cover the rent, whether they were for hire or not.   The seats are not padded very well and create many problems for drivers, who sit on a bicycle seat for 14 hours a day,which in turn leads to lost of employment during the healing process.  When back at work, they need to work longer hours to play financial catch up, which starts the cycle all over.

The colors of the vinyl tops have different meanings.
Orange colored tops, as seen above are owned by the Government and rented through them.  All other colours of tops are privately owned.  I'm not aware if there is any benefit to renting privately or not.
Green tops represents the Environment
Blue tops represents the ocean
Yellow tops represents the sun
Red tops represents Faith/Hope

Parts Department.  Canadian Tire - eat your heart out!

This is where they store the parts.  They seem to know where everything is.  No cataloguing, organization by items, etc.  It's amazing what they recycle.  It's right outside their home, so it's close by.

A fence is around the property so they can protect their goods.  This particular business has been in the family for 3 generations, and he proudly would like to keep it going for his son.  He currently employs only his family members.   There is a lot of theft, so the cost of construction is increasing constantly.

The tradional pousse pousse.  The vinyl cover has to be installed.

These are tires for a traditional pousse pousse.  It's one frame with a thick piece of rubber that fits into the wheel well.  No tubes, so the tires never go flat.  They last a very long time with little trouble. (unlike the cycle pousse bicycle tire)

The cushion is made of hair from the palm tree.  This is much nicer to sit on than sponge.  It's softer and doesn't shrink down over time like sponge as it always holds it's shape. (Hmmm, do I see a market here like memory foam?).  Unfortunately this is dying out, as these types of palms are dying off.  So, back to sponge.

Underneath the seat area is a little trunk. (see open hole) This is where the drivers keep their water, money, or anything they don't want to carry on them and hide from other people.  All of the construction on this type of pousse pousse is wood.  This type of wood is water resistant, but unfortunately, the tree that this wood is made from is becoming extinct.

This piece is for the body of the cycle pousse, which comes from China.  Anything that is painted blue is from China.   All of the cycle pousse frame is metal.  This is very expensive for the Vendors.

Now to attach the wheels.  The wheels for the cycle pousse are like bicycle wheels.  Problem is, tires go flat, they wear out, are smaller, so they can get catch in the sewer drains in the middle of the roads.  Only a good thing for the tire repair guys.  These can also flip backwards if the driver gets out before the customer (and the customer or product their hauling is heavier)  I saw this  happen, and didn't have my camera:(- luckily no one was hurt...

Local Paper Making

On our way to the local paper making place.  It's a local fellow that learned this way of paper making from his father.  These type of skills are generally passed down from generations.

Outside his home, he has a form set up that is dropped slightly on one end.  He fills it up with water about 1/3 of the way.  The inside is a bordered screen that he puts the pulp of the palm in.  Water covers this, then he opens up the drain and lets the water drain and shakes the bordered screen until all that is left is the pulp.  This takes less than 20 minutes.

As the water is draining,  he gently pats down the pulp so it eases through the screen and becomes compacted.

The bordered screen is removed and then you have the pulp left.   He then places square pieces of plastic on the pulp as a template. A small spatula type of tool is then used to outline the square, the plastic is removed and you are left with a square that you can decorate with real flowers, stems and leaves.

Each of us designed our own pattern, then he gently puts a little more water over top to "seal" the flowers and lets it dry in the sun.  This drying takes about  2 days. (depending on the intensity of the sun)

The finished product.  These are 3 different pieces of work.   He had some gifts bags, cards, stationary, and a few other items for sale.  All very lovely and unique.