Claim: Middlemen exploit carvers

Dar es Salaam. “I was really thrilled for receiving the first award in a local wood carving competition in the country,” said local carver Yohana Martini Liteka. Speaking during an interview with The Citizen on Saturday, Mr Liteka said although he was poor the award he received earned him and the nation international recognition.

He said he participated in a local wood carving competition, which was organised by the International Wood Culture Society (IWCS) at Karimjee Hall in Dar es Salaam on 2013 World Wood Day March 19-21 after being tipped off by a person he knows by one name as Mr Wiso.

“The theme I chose for my carving was ‘Who the mother is like in the world’. It depicts the figure of a mother carrying a bundle of firewood, a breast-feeding baby and two others walking with her on either side. The reason for the theme was to show a heavy workload women endure across the world,” he said.

He said the competition involved carvers from Malawi, India, China and the US, but from Tanzania he was the overall winner besides other two fellow Tanzanian carvers. He said one of the two colleagues died in a motorcycle accident.

He said he was told he would represent his fellow Tanzanian carvers at an international festival scheduled for Europe next year, but the country where it would take place had not been revealed. He said had he not been tipped off about the competition he would have missed the opportunity.

He said Mr Wiso told him to enquire about the details from Tanzania Specialist Organisation on Community Natural Resources and Biodiversity Conservation (Tasonabi) director Bariki Kaale.

So, he (Mr Liteka) asked for his mobile phone number so that he could contact Mr Kaale, who directed him to bring with him a piece of wood he was going to carve the following day. He said about 30 local carvers from various parts of the country participated in the competition.

He said they were each told to bring their tools and carve a piece of wood of their choice. The third day they were told to present their pieces to judges, who picked the overall winner.

“The competition involved carvers from Malawi, India, China and the US, but from Tanzania I was the overall winner besides the other two, but one of them died in a motorcycle accident,” he said. Mr Liteka was born in Nkunya, Newala, in Mtwara Region. Although he doesn’t remember the year he was born, his passport shows he was born on December 24, 1945. He never received any formal education, so he doesn’t know how to read and write.

He is the third born and the only son to his parents, but only two of them - his sister who is the first born and himself - are still alive. His father died when he was small, so he was raised by his paternal uncle, who was a carver at Maulunga in Mtwara Rural.

As a boy he used to imitate what his paternal uncle was carving and eventually he was able to carve on his own. He said there was a European who used to buy his uncles’ carvings at the time and that enabled his paternal uncle to earn a living and support his family.

He said from Maulunga he moved to Songea, where he got a fiancée, Theresia Denis, from Morogoro, who was about to finish her Standard Seven. In 1972, he had an engagement and in 1973 he paid the bride price and married in 1974. He said he had four children (two boys and two girls).

“My wife and children never went beyond primary school education and this has an adverse impact on my family given the fact that I am aging and without a stable financial base to support myself and my family,” he said. He explained that after marriage, he started staying with his family and depended on the trade he learned from his paternal uncle. So, he would carve and sell his carvings.

He said at that time a carving would sell only at Sh100 or Sh150, but it was difficult even to get such an amount of money. He said in 1977, he had moved to Dar es Salaam and together with other colleagues they managed to put up some structures in Oyster Bay near a police station and tourists would come to buy their carvings. Since their stalls were near the police station they were told to move to another place. Hence, they decided to move to Mwenge.

He says he doesn’t remember when they moved to Mwenge, but while in Mwenge, he would sell a carving at Sh2,000 to Sh3,000 and sometimes between Sh10,000 and Sh50,000 and also between Sh200,000 and Sh500,000 depending on the size. He says a carving of about 10 centimetres long would sell at between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000 depending on how skilfully it was made.

He said if a carving was big enough it could fetch up to Sh30 million. He said it looked as if carving earned them good money, but it was not. “This is because we lack a reliable market.” He said there was once a carving they were selling at Sh30 million, but nobody bought it, so they had to lower the price to Sh4 million.

“Middlemen are exploiting us a lot for they would look for buyers in our absence, fix the price they want and would come posing as buyers and lower the price even to Sh90,000,” he said. “Middlemen make super-profits.

A large carving selling at Sh10 million, for instance, they could buy it at Sh4 million, knowing he has Sh6 million as profit.

This is the problem facing us today.” He said the middlemen were very tricky for when they got buyers they told them they were going to get them good carvings and when they got a tender they looked for a carver they could pay little money so that they sold it highly to tourists.

He said carvers in the country were left behind and he appealed to the government to consider developing their trade and not only support artistes. He thus asked the government to look for them a reliable market to boost their trade.

He also asked the government to establish a college for nurturing upcoming carvers and create more jobs for the youth. He said after he emerged the overall winner some Chinese called him to go to Segerea, Dar es Salaam, where they were staying.

He said this was before Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania in March this year. “Some Chinese journalists took a few pictures of my carvings and invited me to go to Beijing, where I went. I was received by the mayor of Samsong and was later taken to Benjamin Mkapa Museum.

After interviewing me, the journalists returned to Beijing and I remained in Samsong, where I was asked to decorate a large table, whose wood was imported from Brazil,” He said his carving talent had enabled him to visit China without which he wouldn’t have ever dreamt of going there.

He said he worked on it for one month, but he was surprised to find that after work he was given Sh200,000 and a TV set as his payment. He said he was left dumbfounded and when asked why he was paid such little money he was told “I shouldn’t be so ambitious”. He said he wished one day he could get a person who would boost him.

He said he was carving another piece of wood for certain Chinese who paid him in instalments a total of Sh700,000. He said he wanted them to pay him Sh2.5 million for it was a big piece, but they refused. Instead, they would pay him little by little, the money he said didn’t help him in the end.

He admitted carving was damaging the environment, but he tries to comply with legal requirements. “Whenever I want to carve anything I ask for a permit from the natural resources department. Sometimes I ask women collecting firewood if I find that they have a piece of dry wood I can use for carving,” he said.

He said many young people did not like carving because they saw that it was not a rewarding undertaking.“I ask the government to establish a carving college to develop upcoming talents. Otherwise, this trade is going to die,” he said.

Mr Liteka is living in Mbagala Mission. He said he could not afford going to Mwenge everyday where there were other carvers for a return ticket costs him over Sh1,400 per day.

He said carvers were available, but were being demoralised by the uncertainty of the trade and lack of market.

Mr Liteka can be reached at 0787903864.