Kiva Stories from the Field

Hawkers

4 December 2007 at 15:12 obruni 1 comment

My limit for walking around Ghana in the daytime here is about ten minutes. I’m in pretty good physical condition, it’s just that after the fifth minute I start feeling like I dived in a pool with my clothes on. At that point I find an excuse to go indoors, take my backpack off, and cool off before heading out again.

The other day I had opportunity to interview Elizabeth Quenoo. She doesn’t have the capital to open a shop yet, so she walks and sells with her products balanced on her head from sunrise to sunset. Elizabeth “hawks” pots and metal bowls.

On top of carrying heavy loads in the heat, hawkers simultaniously dodge speeding tro-tros, avoid giant open ditches in the roads, and breath in loads of car fumes, and sprent away from IRS agents. They are also more susceptible to malaria, headaches, neck pains, frequent fevers, and general muscle pains from being outdoors over an extended period of time. Here I am about to collapse after walking ten minutes, and all these women are hawking with 30 or so pounds of products on their heads. The entrepreneurial spirit of Sinapi women never ceases to amaze me.

Entry filed under: Ghana, KF3 (Kiva Fellows 3rd Class), Sinapi Aba Trust. Tags: Roslyn Wang.