If you have ever travelled by the Accra – Aflao road, then you must have spotted a cluster of beautifully decorated clay pots on display along the road, starting from a town called Vume where they are made, through Tefle where one of former president Rawlings’ house is, to Sokpoe, the lower Volta basin.
Guess how long these pots have been on display there for! Owner of Peace and Unity Pottery and Ceramics, the company which makes the clay pots has revealed that some of them have been on display for as long as between ten and fifteen years.
That’s intriguing, I guess. But please, don’t get it twisted! This shocking revelation does not in any way mean that the pottery business in Vume is dormant. In fact, Stephen Kwashie Bonny has been doing this work for as long as the past eighteen years, and if it was not profitable, he would have closed down his factory already.
He said that he is really making money from the pottery business and loves doing it. As a matter of fact, he is currently expanding the factory by building a new site, and all the pots you see at the aforementioned locations belong to him.
“When we started this business about eighteen years ago, sales was very good because we are along an international road. We used to export the pots to Togo, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, aside distributing them to other parts of Ghana, mostly Accra,” Kwashie Bonny said. “Sometimes we gave them to people on credit and they paid us after an agreed period of time. But this time, sales is down, because it is dry season, business is good when it is rainy season, because that is when people plant more flowers.”
This is the work he has done for close to two decades, through which he has been able to cater for his family’s needs, including buying a car for himself, building his own home and educating his children to various levels, some of whom are currently abroad.
He was emphatic in saying that whoever makes a negative judgement about his business by virtue of the fact that the products are always seen on display anytime they use the Accra – Aflao road will be mistaken. Kwashie Bonny explained that the reason why his pot market is always occupied and seems ineffective is that they are quick in filling the space as soon as someone comes to buy the pots. Some people place orders that are exclusively produced for them according to their own specifications, hence do not necessarily need to be on display.
Wife’s unflinching support
As the saying goes, beside every successful man is a woman. Stephen Kwashie Bonny has not been in this pottery business alone, he has enjoyed the support of his apparent indefatigable wife who has vowed never to do any other work, having discovered the joy and monetary benefits that accompany pottery.
Agnes Bonny said her husband had established a big store for her, but having realised that what the pottery business has to offer her was far more than her personal business, she abandoned it to join forces with him, and she has never regretted the move.
“This work is a good work, but people don’t understand. Initially, when we started, people made mockery of us,” she said. “But I was the one selling the pots, and I knew the benefits, so I was bent on learning the pottery work. My husband established a store for me, but I abandoned it for this business.
“It is lucrative, because this is the work we have been doing for years through which we have catered for all our children’s education. Some of them are teachers, others are abroad, but they all know how to make pots.”
Agnes joined her husband in entreating the government of Ghana to consider investing in the pottery business as part of its industrialisation drive, to create employment for the many idling youth in the area.
“The youth who are loitering about should get interested in learning this work, it is good for young ladies to enable them make a living and be useful to the nation.”
Employment potentials
Over the years, successive governments have not made policies aimed at providing ample employment opportunities for the increasing population, a failure that has worsened the unemployment situation in the country.
More than 1.2 million Ghanaians from 15 years and above were estimated to be unemployed as at 2017, representing a total of 11.9% of the entire population of Ghana.
According to the Labour Force survey Report commissioned by the Ghana Statistical Service, out of the number, 714,916 were females, representing 57.2%, and 535,997 for males, also representing 42.8%.
The aim of the Labour Force survey was to collect basic data on labour force situation in Ghana and make statistics available for the public, in order to inform decisions towards improving employment situations in the country.
This and many other statistics are available, but governments have not shown much commitment to utilising them in formulating policies to alleviate the unemployment situation in Ghana
The Peace and Unity Pottery and Ceramics has provided a gainful employment for at least fifteen people within the area currently, excluding apprentices and interns.
Stephen Bonny said more indigenes could get employment at his factory if he is supported to expand the business and produce variety of items, using the clay.
Felix Morkar is one of the painters who makes the pots look shiny and fascinating. He said he has been doing it for the past ten years, and the kind of painting they do is more specialised than that of an ordinary painter.
“Of course it is lucrative, when I completed Junior High School I did not go further, and this is the work I have been doing for years to take care of my younger ones in school and my personal needs. It is a very nice work, but it is difficult to learn, especially knowing how to mix colours,” Morkar said.
Evolution and usefulness of clay pots
As the world evolves, various inventions and innovations are emerging and things like clay pots are fast becoming obsolete. Plastic and metal products have almost made clay pots irrelevant when it comes to its domestic use, except for planting flowers.
People prefer to procure plastic and metal products under the perception that they last longer or look more attractive.
It is instructive to note that, just as every other thing, clay pots have their own disadvantages, but research shows that the advantages overweigh the disadvantages.
According to a study published on Quora.com by Rachna Jain Khanal, an Engineer and Quality Control Officer at Siddhartha Pellet Feed Pvt Ltd, clay pots:
1. Have ability to circulate steam throughout cooking. This provides plenty of moisture and means that you can cook with less oil and fat.
2. Since Clay is alkaline in nature and when food is cooked it neutralizes the PH balance of food and hence acts as a natural detox. You will be surprised to know that mud contains all the possible vitamins; even Vitamin B12.
3. Slow cooking process retains all the nutrients of the food that we cook and hence the food is much tastier.
4. Reheating the food always leads to loss of nutrition but if you cook in a clay pot it retains the temperature for a longer time and no worries for reheating.
Hence there is no need to transfer it to a casserole.
5. If you season your pot properly, it will become durable and likely last for a long time.
6. Because of the steam, meats stay moist and tender. A clay pot can cook delicious whole chickens, pork chops, corned beef, pot roasts, and other slow-cooked meals. Meats will come out juicy and flavourful, and because most clay pots are large, you can cook any vegetables alongside them. Clay pots are also very popular for baking artisan bread.
Those are just a few benefits of cooking in clay pots, but the clay itself can be used for other things such as roofing sheets, bricks, drinking cups, earthen ware, water closets, flower pots, basins among others, all of which Kwashie Bonny said his company is capable of producing if they have the needed machinery.
Patronising made in Ghana products
US businessman, Jean Paul Vandenbrauke was driving to Sogakope when he got fascinated to the beautiful clay pots and stopped to feed his eyes.
He urged Ghanaians to patronise clay pots, not only for use at home, but as souvenir that can be passed on to the next generation.
“A plastic thing is functional, but we all need beauty in our lives and this is art. Maybe you could have some plastics no matter what, but don’t neglect to add some beauty, something that is pleasant to look at, and somebody in Ghana made this,” Vandenbrauke suggested.
He expressed worry about the love for foreign products over made in Ghana ones, saying it is a culture that contributes to the decline Ghana’s economy, while helping build those of other countries.
“If you buy things made by people from Ghana, then you support people in Ghana. In the USA, we try to buy things made in the USA, maybe we’re not too good at it. But it helps people, your neighbour…it only makes sense.
“Take pride in your history and culture, and it gives much more depth to your life. Another plastic thing will be thrown away everyday, but you can have this and give to your children or grandchildren…,” he added.
Why government must consider investing in pottery at Vume.
Unlike other factories such as the Komenda sugar factory which has been shut down simply because there is no raw materials for production to keep the company in operation, a clay pot factory in Vume will not suffer that fate. In fact, the special clay, which is the raw material already exists in the same area abundantly. All that government must do to sustain the business is to source for wider market for the products that will be produced – they could be distributed to other parts of the country for sale as well as exported to other countries.
There are so many youth in the area who wish to get employed at the Peace and Unity Pottery and Ceramics, but in its current state, the company is not able to employ more than the fifteen employees who currently work there.
If government could invests in establishing a bigger and proper pottery industry at Vume, more youth could get the opportunity to work and earn a better living, because clay pot making obviously has huge prospects to provide permanent vocation for the indigenes of Vume, Tefle and other surrounding communities.
Aside direct employment, a proper pot making factory could serve as a vocational training center where students who are not able to further their education could resort to for a vocational skill. Also, while in school, students could also embark on excursions to the factory, or those studying pottery as a vocational skill in school could have their internships there.
From observation, a full-fledged pot making factory could even become a tourist attraction site, judging from the interest foreigners express in the beautiful pots along the Accra-Aflao road when they pass by.
Alternative skill
For those who are already employed, either by someone or self, it would not be out of place to take some few weeks of internship in pot making to be an alternative skill. In fact, it may be a vocational knowledge to fall back on in times of retrenchment or even an extra source of income while still in employment.