By Solomon Mensah
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| Amaniampong repairing shoes |
“I have… I have
been...," Amaniampong stuttered as he
busily attended to his customers.
Hello there. My name is Solomon Mensah and on
#SoloTellsMyStory today, I tell you the steady progress being chalked by a
cobbler (shoemaker).
I would, for the purpose of this piece,
use the words ‘shoemaker’ and ‘cobbler’ interchangeably to
mean a person who makes or repairs shoes.
Amaniampong, a cobbler, plies his trade
directly opposite to the Ghana Institute of
Journalism’s (GIJ) entrance. He tells me a security man at GIJ (named Nicholas)
recommended he pitched his ‘tent’ at his current spot
to repair the shoes of students.
“Bossu [he addresses me], Nicholas has really helped
me. I used to walk from Madina then would make a
stop here [GIJ]. But upon his advice here am I today,” he says.
Amaniampong wears a brownish
white singlet over a pair of knickers. On his laps is a piece of cloth dirtied
by the footwear he places on it.
His voice sounds as deep as the bass
singer of Mark Anim-Yirenkyi’s Deliverance Singers’ music group.The
voice, a great competitor it would be to Joy FM’s Fiifi Koomson’s ‘patented’ deep voice. However,
seeing and interacting with student-journalists and communicators at large does
not tickle him to dream working as a broadcaster someday. He is happily
engrossed in his trade.
In 2011, when I got admission to study
at GIJ, Amaniampong had only a shoemaker’s box. Four years on,
the shoemaker, who I have a cordial relationship with, has proven the
enterprising passion of most Ghanaian youth.
Walking from campus to eat at the GIJ bush canteen, Edward Balami, a friend,
poked me to have a look at Amaniampong’s acquired machines. You won’t believe the
shoemaker has bought for himself a generator and another machine he
(Amaniampong) calls a grinder! Yes he has!
“The grinding machine cost me Ghc700 and
the generator, Ghc900,” he tells me.
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| The generator & grinding machine |
He says aside being tired of begging to
tap electricity from nearby sources, the 'dumsor' the nation faces
forced him to buy the generator.
Amaniampong, a native of the Asante region, is poised
making it in Accra before going to settle in his hometown. He wants to put up a
metallic kiosk, the size of a lotto kiosk, to give a facelift to his business.
He is, however, faced with a challenge.
Amaniampong’s challenge is not
monetary. He has been able to save some cedis.
“A day? Mmm ok, say Ghc80 or
Ghc90." This is the amount he
makes in every single day, he tells me.
“That was why I was able to buy those
machines [referring to the generator and grinding machine].” Amaniampong wipes off beads of
sweat, like that formed on a chilled beer, on his forehead.
At a point in time, I thought he had
forgotten my question asking him the challenge he faces in putting up his
kiosk.
“I just need a permit to enable me put
the kiosk here,” he says shooting his right hand to show me where he wants
the kiosk to be located. He would need that approval from the Ghana Journalists’ Association and the
Accra Metropolitan Assembly.
Amaniampong knows how to make
shoes and he would learn to improve his skills to give GIJ students the best of
his services. In his yet-to-be-erected kiosk, he would have compartments for
storing shoes to be repaired and those already repaired.
A successful young man per his own
standard, I asked him if he is married or has a girlfriend? His answer was
simply interesting and thought-provoking.
“Bossu, I am not married nor do I have a
girlfriend. I want to make it in life before I think of relationship matters.” He continues, “if you have God and
money, almost everything comes your way.”
Amaniampong’s stay at GIJ has gotten him a
shoe-polishing job at the State House. He says some of the parliamentarians and
government officials who often use the Garmel Abdul Nasser road, in front of
GIJ, spotted him and offered him the contract.
He says polishing shoes at the State
House is somewhat a juicy deal and that those officials seeing him in his dream
kiosk would further appreciate his progress and ‘brand.’
Little did I know that the bench on
which I sat to interview the shoemaker was his. On it was the inscription: “Amaniampong K.” He says the ‘K’ stands for Kwarteng.
Amaniampong Kwarteng has made a steady
progress since my first time of seeing him in 2011. Aside his tools for his job
then, he could now boast of a generator and a grinding machine. And Oh... a
branded bench!
Should his dream of putting up a kiosk
become a reality, I wouldn’t be surprised if he serves his
customers with a sachet of ‘pure’ water each.
Who knows? He may even partner the
Students’ Representative Council of the Ghana Institute of
Journalism to make branded slippers and shoes for students.
Why don’t you feel free to
dream, too? After all, Ghana’s Inspector General of Police can NEVER
call for your arrest for dreaming big.
The
writer is a freelance journalist.
Twitter:
@Aniwaba
