Like most people, I've learnt a lot from my dad over the years directly and indirectly, life lessons, wisdom, how to knot a tie...this felt different though! My dad grew up in a village in my home town, a very adventurous experience though they lived on little. He learnt to hunt, fish, and do several crafts and most significantly for this post basket weaving. My dad is the perfect example of the saying "You can take the boy out of the village but you can't take the village out of the boy". Though we now gratefully lead a very comfortable life in Lagos, the economic capital of my country, my dad still hunts birds with his catapult and welcomes every opportunity to get crafty among other things.
With a lot of free time on our hands in the early stages of the lockdown we visited a family from our church who own a spacious nature friendly home. Like my dad, retired engineer Salako also grew up in a village and shares the same if not a stronger enthusiasm for adventure. He rares catfish, fowls, birds and farms for leisure.
Engr. Salako had cut down some pines from his palm tree and I couldn't see how a basket could come out of them. Apparently we had to cut thin strips out of them in different forms and for different purposes. We spent a few hours doing that as it was quite tedious, my dad admitted he was a little rusty too. After relaxing with some catfish pepper soup and drinks (courtesy of our host's wife), we decided to return the next day to do the actual weaving.
Daddy doing his thing
Day 2
I came looking like 2-Pac lol
Thanks to the lemon trees in the compound we found good shade and setup at a nice spot. The thickest of the pines we had cut the previous day were arranges in threes and equidistantly to form the base of the basket. The thinner ones were then run through the base round and round till there was a solid form. I watched in awe through it all.
After my dad started working the body upwards I understood the pattern and took over. It wasn't as easy as I thought but it got better, I was able to do a couple of rows before handing it back to the specialist to finish it off. Through it all we were entertained by several childhood stories from both old timers. It was so much fun!
Hours passed by and the basket was complete, the whole thing still seemed magical to me even though I did some of it. I'm still not sure I can do it myself from scratch but with some practice I'll surely get the hang of it.
striking a pose with the finished piece like I did all the work
The Salakos were very welcoming and took good care of us. I'd love to have a large compound like theirs someday and wake up to nature's beauty everyday. Thanks for stopping by, do leave a thumbs up if you enjoyed reading this.