Conceived in 2001 as part of Citizenship Education, the Municipal Government
of La Paz introduced Zebras as playful and artistic elements on the streets to
sensitize the public, drivers and pedestrians of the importance of using zebra
crossings. When they were first introduced 11 years ago, people used to fight
and kick people wearing zebra costumes in the streets. However it is now a
respectable profession for young people in La Paz to be zebras - you wear a
full zebra costume and bring positivity and friendliness to the streets of La
Paz! Zebras help pedestrians cross the roads at traffic lights, help the
elderly catch the right bus and generally aim to try and make the streets a
happier place! http://www.facebook.com/lascebrasdelapaz?ref=ts&fref=ts
The zebra philosophy requires zebras to devote their best efforts for
the benefit of society, imparting drivers to have consideration for children
and the elderly, as well as promoting values such as respect and tolerance. We had a full training induction and physical warm up to get us in
to the spirit of the zebra character including lots of ridiculous stretches,
facial expressions, hugging and basically making fools of ourselves to make us
completely lose our inhibitions. They told us that we have to exaggerate all of
our actions when we are zebras and be extra polite to people. We were paired up
with a working zebra and then skipped off down the streets (literally!) to find
our set of traffic lights.
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| Me and a fellow zebra after our shift, working on the streets of La Paz |
It is amazing the reaction we got on the streets; people waved and
smiled at us and kids came and hugged me all the time! You have to be full of
energy and dance around, waving people across the zebra crossing when the
traffic lights turn red and thank drivers for waiting behind the crossing.
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| Me infront of San Francisco cathedral |
The hardest thing about the job is definitely wearing the zebra
costume; it is boiling and you wear a full padded zebra head which restricts
your vision totally, apart from a small hole for your eyes, giving you
restricted tunnel vision!!! This makes it very hard to see people, let alone
the traffic lights which are generally suspended high above the road! It was a
great experience and I have new found respect for the zebras I see dancing
around in the hot sunshine for hours on end on the streets. They are doing a
very unique and important job; I think most cities in the world could benefit
from having some polite, respectful, energetic zebras to brighten up their streets!
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