Meet Molly Santo Biira, the truck driver

There was a time when the sight of a woman behind the wheels was a rare phenomenon. But with the changing trends and of course the coming of the Vitz, the number of women pressing rubber on the tarmac has increased.

What is still rare, however, is the sight of a woman that is steady behind the wheels. It is believed that many female drivers on our roads are still soft and shaky; they can’t reverse a car with the help of only the rear-view mirror and need to turn their necks and shoulders around in the process, and also need binoculars to find the brakes beneath their feet. Oh, girls!

Perhaps, like it is often said, girls can’t drive.
Well, that is a notion you may believe, until you meet Molly Santo Biira. The 26-year-old is not just steady behind the wheels, she is ferocious. And no, she does not drive a Vitz. Perhaps she doesn’t find much thrill behind small wheels. Biira is meant for heavy-duty trucks.

Tough girl?
I got to meet Biira on a site visit to the New Nile Bridge that is currently under construction. Expectedly, there were a couple of big trucks on site that were busy with activity. But the gigantic wheel loader with all its turns and noises seemed the busiest; reversing in quick motion, scooping huge loads of soil and heaping it on a fast-growing pile.
The truck quickly got everyone’s attention. Surely, the man behind it was skilled, so we thought. Until someone on the media crew got a few yards closer, only to shout like he had just discovered fire, “It’s a girl!”

Biira it was; very attentive and composed. She waved slightly and gave the cameras a quick smile, then shifted the next gear and got back to work like this was no big deal, as if we see women manning such heavy-duty trucks every day and with such admirable skill and therefore should stop creating a scene for no reason at all!

Well, that is the kind of attitude I later got to admire because when she finally brought the engine to a halt and descended the mini-staircase of that heavy truck, this time wearing a smile, she explained that part of the success at this job comes with being attentive. “You have to block out all external distractions and focus otherwise you are likely to mess up and mistakes for such a big truck are costly. That explains why I don’t even smile a lot when I’m in there, do you understand?”

Sure, personally I do. Unlucky for her though, many people have failed to understand why she maintains such a tough face while manning the truck.
“Some have even accused me of using drugs mainly because they believe a girl shouldn’t be driving the big trucks as well as I do and partly due to the fact that I don’t smile often when in there. I just laugh at their sentiments though.” She highlights with a smile.

Who is she?
A resident of Walukuba, a Jinja suburb and a single mother to three year old Sarah, Biira looks at herself, first and foremost, as a simple girl before she is even a heavy-duty truck driver. She is a lover of nature and beautiful sights, likes soap operas and also enjoys listening to the serene jams of Michael Bolton.

When it comes to her thrill for cars however, all the nail polish and eye-liner comes off. Like she quips, “I’m more of a man when it comes to cars,” something that perhaps comes from the fact that she grew up with many brothers.

As a girl, her dream was to become a pilot. Unfortunately though, circumstances she prefers to keep private did not permit and she fell off the formal education ladder in 2007 after her Senior Three. It is then that she gave her passion for cars more attention and she is now pecking a decent living off it.

“I have always loved to drive cars and I was never intimidated by their size. There is a certain lady called Immaculate Mutamba who used to drive these sorts of trucks back in 2007. I admired her for long and she was a very good friend.

“So, at some point, I asked her to start teaching me. I was 17 then but I learnt so fast because of my passion. In about four months I had learnt everything already and continued working with her. Then, in 2009, when I was 19, I started personally taking on real work with different construction companies and I have been doing it since then,” Biira narrates.

Nothing like a man’s job
One would imagine that manning this kind of truck calls for vast amounts of energy and therefore men have an edge on this. As it turns out however, there is no truth in that. You don’t need muscles to operate a wheel loader.

“Those are misguided stereotypes. We don’t use energy in this, we only use our heads.” Biira quips with a proud smile. “You only have to learn and understand the gears, the level operations and necessary safety drills. That is something that calls for your brain not your muscles therefore women, like men can do this job.”

In her view, there is never really such a thing like a man’s job. “There are male dominated jobs but we shouldn’t call them male-restricted jobs.” She is thus saddened that most women let opportunities go by because they believe, due to their gender, they won’t be able to do the job or because society dictates so. “That is wrong. As women we cannot allow to be locked in a box. The world is changing and we need to cross boundaries and reach out for even those opportunities that were initially beyond our reach, supposedly so.”

Going places
Today, Biira is an experienced operator. She mans the Wheel loader at the moment, but as she says, she can drive most of the other heavy trucks.

“I have operated dumping trucks before, including the Axal Benz and even a Ford. I also drive top energy bulldozers, graders, compactors and many other trucks.”

In her line of work, you simply wake up and go where the call of duty comes from, so she finds herself always on the move. On a few occasions she has even found herself having to operate trucks in other countries in the region.

“But mostly it is within Uganda. I have been to all parts of the country, from the western border in areas like Hoima to the eastern border. I get truck operation gigs from many construction companies like Colline Company, Sogeya and I have also worked with SBI International,” Biira notes.

She is now part of the team constructing what will be Uganda’s first cable-stayed bridge, something she is proud of. She is even determined to travel to other parts of the world and be a part of the construction of great structures around the globe, though of course the challenges that stand in her way are still a multitude.

Surviving among the men
“Obviously, as a woman it is harder to get jobs in this line of duty especially when some companies refuse to conduct proper trials and interviews to judge interested parties on merit. Many times, I have been denied the job without even a trial drive just because I am a girl. Nobody wants to believe that a woman can be better than a man on this job. Yet, every time we have gone through trials I have always been the best and always gotten hired,” Biira shares.

This, for her, is the biggest challenge she faces but not the only one. She says sometimes the job is taxing, sighting that her truck is often central to all the on-going activity which also mounts on the pressure. All this even becomes harder when she finds herself having to spend months on faraway construction sites, making it inevitable for her to miss friends and family back home, especially her daughter. “And sometimes when the people I’m with on a particular site show doubt and some sort of segregation because I’m a girl, it tends to get very unbearable.”

Nonetheless, Biira remains determined. As she asserts, there is nothing that will deter her from her dream. She is determined to go places in her career. But she does not plan on doing it for too long.

“I am now used to spending months on faraway construction sites but eventually I will need to come back home and settle and perhaps build a family. I can’t tell when that day will come but it surely will. For now however, I am happy doing the job and I will just keep having fun with this truck.”