The Shoemakers of Lae town

I have recently discovered a whole “genre” of people that work the streets of Lae. The local shoemakers! I noticed these men when I 1st arrived 10 months ago but in the past few weeks I seem to see them everywhere around town. There are known places where these men work and there are normally a few of them together. They sit on the ground with their needles and leathers, ready to repair what most western bootmakers would just toss out. I have never known anywhere that repairs thongs!  A speciality of the Lae shoemaker!

Dad was a bootmaker by trade, one of the best around (2nd to my Uncle Alex!).  So you see I have a weak spot for these trades people. So yesterday, I made a decision to check out their skills. As some of you know, I am rather fond of sandles and have about 6 pairs. All good quality, expensive and all favourites! In the past, when a pair of my sandles have been walked into the ground I normally go for a short period of grieving but eventually toss them out. Shoemakers of Lae to the rescue !!  I am hoping that the dead sandles grieving thing will now be a thing of the past – or for as long I am in PNG anyway. Never again will I have to toss a pair of “birkies” – perhaps I might still be wearing my “favourites” at 86!!

PNG : Expect the Unexpected !!

In PNG, the unexpected is never far away and my visit to the  shoemaker yesterday was no exception.  The unexpected  can occur at any place or at any time and by definition one never knows when the unexpected will strike!   Well yesterday in town it struck!

As mentioned in yesterdays blog post I went into town with Eli and three of her young male relatives. We were taking the boys to their 1st kickboxing class. We got to town early and I decided to take the boys to the local supermarket (Foodmart) for a pie, chips and a coke. After we hopped of the PMV I left one of my “holy” sandles with one of the street shoemakers (see above photo) and agreed to return after about 45 mins at which time the shoemaker said that he would have the sandle repaired.

After some lunch and a wander around town we decided it was time to head to the kickboxing classes and pickup my repaired sandles on the way. All was going well until the time came to agree on a price. The shoemaker was asking K10 ($4.50) and although I thought it was a bit on the steep side I agreed to pay him the asked amount. Afterall I did take some pictures and had a talk with the man and was more than happy to chip in a little for “goodwill”.

Note that by this stage there were probably 20 people or so gathered around us (the “one man circus” thing was of to a start!) and then…

Bingo!!

Eli started to argue with the shoemaker over the price !! Very quickly others started to get into the argument as well. More street people joined in! The potential for some “free” entertainment was certainly beginning to escalate and the noise level of “rhubarb… rhubarb…”
also started to rise. I pre-empted the situation getting out of hand very fast and told Eli to  larim! (let it go!) but no…  she kept on arguing. In an attempt to keep the peace I told the shoemaker and the crowds that I was more than happy to pay K10 for his work (in Tok Pisin of course).

As a group we started to move away from the crowds…  but we were not alone anymore, we were being followed!!

The boys from West Taraka to the rescue !

About 10 of us walked off with about 6 men/boys that I did not recognise. These men/boys buffering Eli and myself from the crowd. Eli was to tell me later that as soon as she started to argue over the price some of the West Taraka “crew” came over to “assist” and give support. Trouble is never far away but help is even closer. Interaction is the key. Show a little respect and the locals will always be there!

Not so long ago, this experience would certainly have given me the “heebie jeebies” and probably would have been cause for me to stay away from town for days if not weeks!. The potential for violence in Lae is incredible and situations can be observed around town daily that back this up.

So why no fear?

Breathe, flow, and let go.
Besides, there is no “I” to feel afraid.

Go to the Lae photo album to checkout some photos of Lae's shoemakers.