People do things for different reasons. Most of the time, we daily go about our business without ever stopping to give a thought to why school-age children are on the streets hawking instead of in school.
The need to earn a living is why 21-year-old Folake, a native of Ipetumodu, took to selling akara (beans cakes). To do this, she wakes up every day at 5am and goes home at 7pm from Monday to Saturday.
As you approach Ipetumodu from Gbongan in Osun State on your way from Ibadan, one thing you are bound to encounter is young girls, boys and sometimes women, all trying to sell their well-spiced akara to commuters. “Don’t push me O! Na yesterday she fry her own”, “My own sweet pass”, “Uncle me; please buy from me.” Such cries fill the air, as the vendors compete for the attention of potential buyers.
Today, Folake, who desires to study Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, is in a very cheerful mood. “I am happy because though the weather is bad, I have sold more than I thought I could! I have a target and that is to make enough money to study Law at OAU. I have already been able to save something reasonable towards the school fees,” she says.
The time is 1pm and the bad weather Folake is talking about is the fact that there’s about to be a heavy downpour of rain. At such times, akara sellers don’t make so much. “Whenever it rains, we don’t sell much and as you can see, the rain is about to fall,” Folake explains.
Folake tries to distinguish herself in doing what she does and this is certainly working for her. “I may not be working in an office, but I dress well to attract people to buy from me,” she says and this market strategy, she argues, gives her an edge over the other sellers.
Dressed in a neat black and white outfit, she could easily pass for an executive sales girl. “I make more sales than most of the others, because I appear neat. As you can see, I am not the strongest around and yet I sell more.”
It is interesting to note that Folake has spent her whole life in Ipetumodu. “I was born in this town and before I was born, my mum was selling akara here. Through selling akara, I got money to pay for my SSCE and buy myself clothes,” she says, and her mother is right there, frying akara along with her.
MamaFolake, as she prefers to be addressed, is 48. “I have five children and we all depend on the money I make from this business. As you can see, Folake, her brother and two sisters are all here selling akara at the roadside,” she says, adding that her eldest son who is in a polytechnic also sold akara there.
On the risks involved in the business, Folake says that apart from the effects of the scorching sun, she and her colleagues are exposed to the danger of being hit by a car. She recalls that there was a time she was almost run over by a bus. “I and other vendors were rushing after a bus to sell. I was the first to get there. I thought the bus had stopped, but it hadn’t and as I rushed to sell akara, it almost ran over my leg. The good thing about the business though is that we still play and do things together after the day’s struggle,” Folake says.
At the far end of the road is Bose, running after a Honda Accord car to sell her wares. At age 15, she said she has been selling akara for three years now and intends to go on doing so until she moves to Lagos. “I have been selling akara here since 2008 and will sell till December when I hope to go to my uncle in Lagos.” She explains that she wants go to the University of Lagos. “When I get to Lagos, my uncle will put me in school. I am now in JSS and when I finish school, I want to study Accounting in UniLag.”
The dreams of these children may be shrouded in uncertainty right now, but as Ayo, who also sells akara puts it, it is just a matter of time. “I believe that one day, I will be in a ‘higher’ school. My elder sister is now in that school,” he says, pointing at the Oduduwa University. “We used to sell akara here together. One day, I’ll be there too.”
