By Agnes E. Fonkeng
‘No food for a lazy man’ is a saying that is becoming common among Cameroonian youths. Many have come to realise that waiting on the government is not the best option; and so, more and more are getting involved in what can be termed odd job. Rather than starving to death or stealing, many prefer to serve as cleaners, gardeners, yard boys, truck-pushers and house servants, ‘head porter’. Streets are crowded with young boys and girls hawking foodstuff, kitchen utensils and many other things. Sometimes one finds it difficult to decide from which phone booth to make a call, because they are not just many, but all are trying in their own different ways to be attractive. This is a picture of life in streets of urban Cameroon. While in the countryside after every five homes, you find displayed items for sale.
Young men either dig pit-toilets or do construction works, or better still, crack stones for gravel and or dig out sand from gutters to sieve and sell. ‘The sieving is usually to separate the fine sand from the stones which then serves as low quality gravel’ says James Mongoh, a resident in Likoko Membea, near Buea.
James Mongoh has been into gravel supply for three years and for the last two years, he has been working at the Federal Quarters sandpit in the town of Buea,
The thirty seven year old hustler who had been into timber transportation for years before switching over, described his present job as ‘lucrative though tedious’. ‘I struggle to produce a trip of gravel in one week. My efficiency has however grown with time because when I started this work, I could only take a month to do what I now do for a week’, says Mr Mongoh. On average, a trip of gravel cost 30.000FCFA (US$60) at the sandpit, 15.000FCFA (US$30) is then included for transportation, loading and fuel. Therefore, for quick delivery, a trip of gravel cost 45.000FCFA (US$90). The cost of a trip also depends on whether it is first, second or third grade gravel. A trip is made up of fifty-two wheel barrows. While a trip of sand, raked from the river bed flowing from Mount Cameroon cost 20.000FCFA (US$40).
Mr Mongoh reports that, after having deducted his transport fair and other expenditures, he is able to make a weekly profit of at least 60.000FCFA (US$120). This is for a job that cost him a total of 32.000FCFA (US$65), split into 5.000FCFA (US$10) for a hammer, 500FCFA (US$1) for rubber and 2.000FCFA (US$4) for gloves and an annual council fee of 25.000FCFA (US$50), which is not be paid in one instalment. The father of three says, though gravel supply is rewarding, he will return to his former transportation business as soon as he is able to save enough money with which to buy a car. Driving as a timber-transporter has always been a dream he hopes to achieve.
He advocates for ‘fair play’. ‘There should be no room for double dealing, because such acts will always hunt its perpetrator’, Mr Mongoh explained. Also, as a youth who has been through some hurdles in life, he urges every Cameroonian to be patient and be ready to go through the “rough road” if that is what it takes to get to ones’ destination. Mr Mongoh is a holder of Cameroon GCE Ordinary Level Certificate. He has worked as a gardener in the Southwest Development Authority (SOWEDA) before he decided to go into gravel supply.
Another gravel supplier at the Federal Quarters sandpit in Buea Mr Johnson Ndeng says he is able to make an average income of 70.000FCFA (US$140) a week from the sale of gravel and sand, raked free from the bossom of the earth. In a month, this amounts to 280.000 FCFA and almost 3.000.000 FCFA in a year. Though he got into gravel supply as a last option, he hopes to save more than enough money with which to start another business. Mr Ndeng explained that, though this job is gratifying, and his ambitions are high, the society looks low down on those who do it, such that, he feels embarrassed telling people it is that he does. But, this is the fate of contemporary Cameroon, where everyone aspires to working for someone or in some big government office. People, like Mr Ndeng virtually run the economy of Cameroon, as they pay taxes from which civil servants are paid their monthly salary, and they also provide the services needed by other money men and women who construct their own houses.
The Form Three college drop out who hails from momo Division had tried his hands on many other things before settling down for gravel supply: he served as a cook in Cameroon Opportunities and Industrialisation Centre (OIC) and then in the National School of Penitentiary Administration (ENAP).
Commenting on the difficulties faced when dealing with his customers, Johnson said sometimes a customer comes in his absence and takes away his gravel, and though the customer may return to tell him, the money is hardly paid in bulk, and not even completed. ‘And because one has to keep a cordial relationship with his customer, I avoid quarrels’, he added.
According to some contractors, sand from that part of the town is cheaper than gravel of the same quantity because, sand from Buea is black and not of very good quality.
Again, Mr Ndeng says confidence and trust is his watchword. He tries to have confidence in his clients until he has a reason not to, and does every thing to prove himself trustworthy.
© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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