white sock and uniforms
Makola Girls
Their white socks popped on the market street. And their arms linked like girls belonging to a sisterhood. I did my best to not lose the group and stick behind them. As I did, I watched tall men pass them by and they clung closer; I watched mothers walk towards them and they inched nearer; I saw market sellers’ circular baskets, rock steady on heads above them and they – three if by Makolo Market – still walked together.
First founded in 1924, destroyed in 1979 and reinvigorated since, Makolo Market is known as a historic commercial center and it is full of entrepreneurial women wearing Kente of all patterns, some men and is where food, cloth and household goods are sold.
As they – three if by Makolo – walked, they reminded me that friends never let you go, they clink your arms, hold your shoulder and huddle close to you, through it all, even if it is an urban market.
What they knew about Makolo I didn’t, and what I know about life they will come to know: navigating it, happens best together.