Coke: Inhumane?

I just got home from an entire day in town. Once again, we had to go to the bus depot to get soft drinks. Tomorrow is our Christmas on Campus celebration, and we would have a lot of unhappy campers if we didn’t have any pop. Unfortunately, the Coca Cola Company doesn’t have the most effective means of distributing minerals (what they are called here) here in Karonga. In fact, if there aren’t any sodas in town, you can plan to waste away an entire Friday waiting at the bus depot for the weekly shipment to come in.

My friends and I arrived in town around 9:30AM, and our first order of business was to check if there were any cases of Coke available anywhere. There weren’t, so we headed over to the bus depot. There would be a truck coming in sometime today, and we could get in line with our empty crates (minerals here are sold in glass bottles, which carry a heavy deposit) and wait for the truck to come in. Last time we did this, we left the depot around 3pm. This time proved to be just about the same.

So here’s my issue with Coke: couldn’t the Coca Cola distributors of Karonga find a better way to bring Coke to the people who want or need it (For some people here, selling sodas is a major part of their livelihood.)?

For me, Coke is a familiar treat, something I enjoy having here because it tastes like home. By no means do I need Coke. But I do think Coke is a good thing. It’s very delicious, refreshing, and enjoyable. It’s a gift to our senses, giving an extra little kick after a hot and tiring day. Unfortunately, I find the way it is distributed here absolutely despicable.

In order to walk away with a desired amount of Coke, an individual must wait all day, standing mostly in the hot sun, in a crowded and dirty bus depot, just waiting. Then, once the line does open, everyone who is hot, tired, and unhappy already, fights to get their empty cases into the fenced off cage where the Coke is kept. Then, they push their way over to the manager who takes in their money for the new cases of Coke. The process takes hours, is extremely stressful and tiring, and to me, is entirely inhumane; the people trying to get the Coke are treated like animals. Furthermore, an individual who desires to have Coke must waste an entire day just sitting. They lose the opportunity of that day to use their creativity, to use their energy, and to use their intelligence to make something great of that day; they become a slave to the Coke.

As I mentioned, I’ve enjoyed the occasional Coke during my time here, but I find the way these distributors treat their customers to be unjust. And for me, that’s not worth a Coke.

I already had a few issues with the global practices of the Coca Cola Cooperation; this just added to the pile.