JOHNNY'S SHOES

 

COBBLER of KONE

The unmistakable John Yama, a rugged cobbler.

Words & picture by BIG PAT

If you are feeling a bit short of change and need a bit of elevation, here's the man who can give you a little bit of a footsy revelation.

For just 20 bucks, these black heels might just give you a little more airspace over the broad shoulders of the daily throng at Carol's buai market outside the Post-Courier office in Lawes Road, Konedobu.

The footloose shoe salesman is John Yama from Mendi who makes his living peddling all forms of footwear at in Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea.

John's been in the shoe business for the past 10 years so he knows just about every foot size and shoe brand from Kagua to Dagua, Malalaua to Salamaua, Honiara to Baniara, Vailala to Goilala and just about every corner you turn.

John's footy footloose and fancy-free footwear have been there and everywhere! You need a toe clipped or a heel clicked. Johnny come lately will get you on the late bus with your shoes feeling brand new.

John is the happy go lucky type of shoe salesman. Not much haggling, 'nogad maus wara, salim long gudpela prais' (no snake oil promises, best offer buys) type of seller.

With a wife and six kids, John's got to make a sale on a daily basis or the kids would go hungry.

John buys most of his stock from lot forty stores and he also looks for good bargains at shoe sales.

He says repaired shoes last longer when fixed by an expert cobbler like himself.

His tools are very simple, a nimble paw, a timbre thaw, and bingo, your shoe is ready in no time at all.

He prefers fishing line as the strongest thread, glue for comfort and leather from offcuts to patch wear and tear.

John says most of his customers are men because men seem to go everywhere in PNG and they tend to wear out their shoes very quickly.

He says men with big feet like Lofty are his hardest customers because it is hard to find cheap size 12, 13 and 14 shoes.

"The biggest size I sold was size 13 to a Papuan mero for K150," he proudly says.

John's come a long way from Wenbips village just outside of Mendi in Southern Highlands province.

After 'fleeing' home, John arrived in Port Moresby in 2006 and found relatives at Newtown in Konedobu.

He sorrowfully shows a deep scar on his left arm, the reason for him fleeing home, which required 13 stitches. Quite sadly the knife was swung by his own son.

The former pig farmer completed grade 6 at Tulum community school in 1976 and besides raising hogs, did brief labour stints with Carson Pratt in Mendi.

So if you're looking for a shoe that fits your foot, come down to Konedobu. You'll find Johnny the shoe expert most probably infront of the IPA building.

As he puts it: "Most of my customers are IPA staff. Many are big foot. So I go looking for them and their foot problems."