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Sunday, 10 March 2013

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Everyday heroes :

Haniffa, the kola kenda vendor

Haniffa is my favourite street vendor. The tiny man sporting a goatee beard and an oversized hat that resembles a ladies bonnet to cover his bald head, and a pair of rubber boots on his feet, is not quite your usual image of a hero.

After all, all he does is trundle a cart full of different leafy gruels. Yet, his nutritious soups are so popular, they are always in demand. So much so, that hundreds of kola kende addicts I know, have confessed to being hooked on his drinks from the time he started his business fifty years ago!..

Haniffa's path to success was by no a means meteoric rise. It was strewn with obstacles that might have deterred a less persevering man.

But on that hard and stony journey of endurance, the gutsy little man learned lessons of endurance and survival - lessons he never failed to share with newcomers to his world, always urging them to live their dreams and pursue them with perseverance.

A gentle, mild mannered man, Haniffa has had more than his share of troubles. Starting his business alongside his father at 16 years, he became its proprietor when he was in his early twenties, after his father passed away following a heart attack.

After he married, Haniffa began training his wife and two sons to follow in his footsteps.

When his older son died in a road accident, his wife was his only helper, since the younger boy was physically and mentally disabled.

He used to tell me that together, he and his equally hard working wife, worked an 18-hour shift on a daily basis.

Their only day of rest was a Sunday. The money they earned went to a school for special kids they ran for differently-abled children, like his son.Haniffa became his neighbourhood's unsung hero the day he lost a couple of toes while attempting to settle a fight between two friends living in the vicinity.

One of them had pulled out a knife and slashed his toes in a drunken rage. Despite his physical disability, the gutsy little man, who began sporting a thick pair of socks to cover his missing toes and rubber boots, never stopped trundling his cart..

Whenever I invariably stop by Haniffa's gruel cart to buy one of his nutritious leafy drinks, we make it a habit to trade news and the day's experiences.

I supply him with the news of the day in my role as a journalist.

Haniffa tells me real life experiences, picked up all the way from his familiar route, starting from his Maradana home through the Hospital Square, past Lipton Circus and Slave Island and back to Maradana. Naturally his stories are far more interesting than anything I can offer.

Unlike most other vendors of his ilk Haniffa's specialty is that he is able to dish up as many as eight to 10 varieties of steaming hot leafy soups in one go.

The secret lay in the secret shelves in the cart each fitted with a small kerosene stove which could heat up any of the soups he carried around.

From moonkenda, hathavariya, gotukola, karapincha, pol pala, thampala, mukunuwenna to uncommon drinks like carrot kola kenda, leeks kola kenda, and even murunga kola kenda, each drink is served in a take away cup and piece of kitul hakuru. Unlike the usual kola kenda vendors who simply serve their customers their products and rarely chat with them, Haniffa has gone a step further.

Not only does he take time to talk to his customers and learn their names which he commits to his excellent memory, he has voluntarily undertaken the task of teaching them the beneficial value of his products.

His facts are not based on hearsay, but learned from books found in libraries where he spends his leisure hours. From his extensive reading he went about printing leaflets at his expense about the health value of each of his products which he usually distributed free of charge to every customer. If a customer could not read, he would take time to explain what the leaflets contained.

When I saw him last, a month ago, Haniffa was still hard at work, enjoying a brisk business.

A few days ago, I was saddened to learn he had suddenly passed away.

May God speed you to your heavenly abode my friend and mentor.

As for me, you will remain my unsung hero always...

 

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