“Look to your left,” my taxi driver called out. His voice cut through the dusk as he parked at the entrance of Ohene Cocoa Farms in Owuram.
The fading light made it hard to distinguish the pods, which all seemed a dull green. I thought cocoa pods had to turn yellow to be ripe.
“This one?” I asked, pointing to a pod with a hint of yellow.
“No, the one closer to your leg.”
I lowered my gaze. “This one?”
“Yes.”
“Is it ripe?”
“Very ripe.”
“Oh, you’re a cocoa farmer?”
“Of course!”
That’s when I learned my taxi driver was much more than he appeared. What began as a short ride from Owuram to Asamankese turned into an enlightening chat about his life. Here’s a glimpse into his journey:
Yaw Attah left school after Primary 6. “You know, in those days, we children didn’t grasp the value of education, so we didn’t like going to school. And if we were asked to bring something for school and our father couldn’t provide it, we’d often just quit.”
As a teenager, Yaw had learned a valuable skill from his father—trapping and selling bushmeat. This made him self-reliant even in primary school, and he recalled his schooldays at Okumaning in the Kwaebibrem District, Eastern Region:
“On our way to school from the village, we would set traps in the bush for rats and grasscutters. On our way home, we’d check our traps.”
They sold any animals they caught for money. Bushmeat was a major source of protein, making trapping lucrative. “My father was a skilled trapper,” he says proudly.
After leaving school, Yaw continued trapping and selling bushmeat. When his father passed away, he was about 13, and he lived with his grandmother. As he got older and stronger, he began working as a farmhand in addition to trapping.
When he made enough money, he invested in a driving apprenticeship and eventually became a driver, transporting goods and passengers between Asamankese and Suhum.
As he grew older, Yaw recognized the need for financial security. Observing that many drivers had no means to support themselves when weakened by age, he ventured into farming. “I wanted to make farming my pension plan.”
Today, Yaw drives a taxi, manages a cocoa farm and a palm plantation, and his industrious wife sells food at a basic school. They have three girls and a boy. Yaw says they strive to ensure their children’s needs are met without depending on others.
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