This is my friend Chicken Legs. His given name is Peter, but he’s known for his poultry eating prowess, so his friends dubbed him Chicken Legs. We ran into CL while walking one of the Lilongwe souvenir markets; he was one of the many hopeful sellers aggressively vying for our attention & Kwacha (Malawi currency). Like so many others, we half-politely brushed him off and kept moving.
But CL was different. He found out what we were doing in town (we weren’t being secretive) and tried to connect us with some rough vendors. The brokering of brokers didn’t work out too well, but I was impressed with his initiative; other souvenir vendors had the same opportunity, but were content to wait for passing tourists.
It was a slow day a the buying table, so I was able to get to know CL a little without the pressure of the souvenir market. CL was one of the many young men who took up wood carving as a means of supporting himself in a country with very high unemployment. His specialty is custom nameplate fobs for key chains: flat, palm-sized pieces of dark wood engraved on both sides, usually with a name and local animal. Each of our hotel room keys had one engraved with the room number.
Earlier, I had been mostly unsuccessful in finding gifts I could bring home for friends and special clients, so I asked CL if he could engrave my personal logo instead of a name on one of his key fobs. My personal logo was an unfamiliar design to him, but CL seemed eager to give it a try. My friend and fellow faceter, Dan Lynch, had been listening to our discussion and thought it was a good idea — so we ended up negotiating a price on about 40 custom carved key chains fobs. I think CL was a little wonder-struck at the unexpected large order (or maybe the oddity of having to carve two abstract business logos), but he stepped up to the task handily.
After providing samples (which CL insisted on providing before taking a deposit), CL went to work. Three days later, we had our fobs, just as ordered. We later learned that CL hadn’t personally carved each of them. He had employed some of his “brothers” in the market to make most of them so he could handle some family matters. I’ve never been sure if the “family matters” were real or a rationalization for the fact he didn’t personally do the work. I am certain that it doesn’t really matter; the whole idea was to encourage him with some business instead of a handout.
Meeting CL & doing business with him is an example of what I mean by “responsible sourcing.” It’s about being conscious of where my money is going and extends beyond my gemstone rough purchases. Whether I travel to gemstone sources or am shopping for groceries at home, I try to get my dollar as close to the people actually doing the work as I can.
So what am I doing with 20 custom-carved key chain fobs? I’ll be keeping one for myself as a memory of Chicken Legs and his wood carving kindred in Lilongwe. Artifacts like this are as good as any image or video to me. The rest of the fobs I’ll be giving to special clients who may appreciate the story behind them; hopefully making a special connection between a craftsman in Malawi and North American jewelers. (But if you like this story and would like one, just LMK and I’ll send one along if I have any left!)