Residents of Agbom, a community in the Eastern Region, is a hub for the making of hand-made khebab skewers with bamboo.
With no modern machinery or equipment at their disposal, the residents, predominantly women, have no option but to use their bare hands to splinter, peel, slice, soak and sharpen the bamboo until they get the final product.
Hardly does one enter a home in the community without seeing at least, one resident engaged in the activity which remains either a major source of livelihood for them or an additional one.
An Octogenarian, Veronica Akweley began this job about ten years ago. Giving a historical background on how the craft began in the community, Madam Veronica recounted to GhanaWeb that one Ometse who died several years ago introduced the making of khebab sticks in the community.
Though she couldn’t tell when exactly he began, she said, some members of the community learnt the craft from him which has since remained with the area.
The 85-year-old said engaging in the activity enables her to earn something to supplement what her two surviving children give her for her upkeep.
“I sell my skewers to anybody who needs it but I have one major customer in Accra called Baba. We sell a stack of forty skewers for one cedi. I am able to pile about GHC100 worth of the sticks in a day.”
She added: “The proceeds are enough for my upkeep with my children also supporting me. It is a difficult job, from the peeling, splintering and finishing but it’s what we have decided to do.”
There is a ready market for their product which is in high demand for the skewing of meat for various occasions and commercial purposes, from within the larger community but especially by customers in Accra who offer the biggest market for their product.
The people buy the raw material — bamboo — mostly from farmers in surrounding villages who cut them at the joints and package them in sacks for sale to their customers.
Challenges
It isn’t rosy for the residents who engage in this activity. Lack of substantive capital to buy the raw material in large quantities and risks of physical injuries to the crafters in the course of the production remains the key challenges confronting the young women.
Janet Nartey, 23, a mother of one who has been in this for seven months said, “We risk being cut by the cutlass or the bamboo. Some of our customers also come for the sticks but do not pay on time while some refuse to pay at all.”
Demonstrating how the handmade skewers are made, 62-year-old Teye Mary said they first splinter the bamboo into chips with a cutlass and then slice the bamboo filament to smoothen it after which the tips are soaked in water for several hours, thereafter the tips are sharpened for easy threading of the meat after which they are dried.
They are then stacked together in 40 or 50 pieces for sale at one cedi per stack.
39-year-old Juliana Tetteh who began this work about three years ago appealed to the government to assist them with some capital to open another business to support her craft.
Though she finds what she does quite profitable, she said, “I’d continue doing this in addition because there is some profit on it. We don’t have enough capital to buy the bamboo to get enough profit.”
62-year-old Teye Mary, a mother of 6 who also began the work about three years ago said she can make about 20 or 30 stacks in a day, providing her with an opportunity to look after herself and her children.
She nevertheless appealed to the government for some financial assistance to inject into the business and consider opening a factory for their business.
“What government can do to assist us is to give us some capital to inject into the business, we don’t even know what machine is used to make this. We would also be grateful if a factory is built for us,” she said, adding that she can make about Ghc200 in a week.
Assemblyman for Agbom East Electoral Area, honourable Daniel Nartey in an interview with GhanaWeb's Eastern Regional Correspondent, Michael Oberteye, acknowledged the challenges being faced by the women and appealed to the government and other benevolent bodies to come on board and assist them.
