Shoe cleaning...gives you profit

Ethiopians are very concious about the way they dress and general appearance, more specifically, how their shoes look. The place where I lived can be called a rural area. There are only a few roads that are tar ones, the rest are mud ones. When its summer, it gets very hot and very dry, the humidity level is low. What with a lot of taxis and university vehicles about, they really kick up the dust which is so fine that it neatly settles on you, on your clothes, on your shoes. People are more concerned about shoes though, coz it is the only place where the dust shows more prominently. When its winter, its rain time. And with rains, the roads can get really muddy. The mud there is the kind of mud that likes to stick to your shoes. So, people need shoe cleaners and shoe polish all the time to keep their shoes shiny and neat and free from dust or wet mud.

I should say that cleaning shoes in Ethiopia is a profitable business. I would have tried it if it weren't for too many cleaners in the job already. Everywhere you go, you can see a corner where there are a line of cleaners waiting for customers, polish and brush at the ready. The way they clean it can be considered an "art". I say this because they do funny stuff with your shoes. Let me explain. When you want a real cleaning of your dirty shoes, you are given one. They wipe your shoes first, with water and a rag, then apply butter! They say butter keeps the leather good...they say butter is good for a lot of things, like they apply butter on the head coz they think its good for the hair (except that it stinks!). Weird to me, but butter it is that is used to clean the shoe. They apply it all over, then start cleaning the shoe. They make it real shiny, then they do a layer of polish to give it the final touch. On a busy day, when you just want them to take the dirt away, they don't do the butter thing. They just wash away the dirt, and wipe it nice and polish it a little and it is as good as new!

After a rainy day, the cleaners are really delighted coz they get good business. Their busiest times are in the mornings when people go to work and stop by a shoe cleaner to get their shoes cleaned before they walk into their offices. As far as I know, I am the only person who used to walk around with dirty boots and not give a damn. That did raise a lot of eyebrows. People even asked me why I torture my boots by not cleaning them at all. Having clean shoes is such an important thing to Ethiopians, even if they didn't clean themselves.