STORY: Tanzanian man earns living by making sandals from used tires
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 20, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 23, 2024
LENGTH: 00:05:55
LOCATION: DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of making traditional sandals from used car tires
2. SOUNDBITE (Swahili): PATRICK YORAM SUDAE, Sandal maker in Dar es Salaam

STORYLINE:

It was almost 35 degrees Celsius outside, and Patrick Yoram Sudae and about a dozen other men were busy making traditional sandals from used car tires in the shade at Tabata-Relini along the Mandela Expressway in Tanzania's port city of Dar es Salaam.

The 36-year-old father of three children turned to this venture 22 years ago after he could not find a job for some time.

SOUNDBITE (Swahili): PATRICK YORAM SUDAE, Sandal maker in Dar es Salaam
"I started to make these shoes 22 years ago. We get most of these old tires from the garage and yards. In the garage, when they remove old tires, they have nowhere to take them, so they remain there as trash. We collect the tires and make shoes from them. We make shoes for everyone, even for people with very low incomes. These sandals are durable. Through our work, we are making Dar es Salaam and the nearby areas clean. Processing these old tires creates employment for us as well."

A pair of sandals sells for 15,000 Tanzanian shillings (about 6 U.S. dollars) to 25,000 shillings (about 10 dollars), he said, adding that his customers are scattered across all 26 regions in mainland Tanzania.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
(XHTV)