| No better place to drown
your sorrow
•Woman sells drums of palm wine daily, says
it’s God’s doing
By TESSY IGOMU
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
|
•Madam
Helen preparing ‘bush meat’ pepper soup
Photo: Sun Publishing
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Tucked underneath bamboo trees, along the snaky, bumpy Alfa
Road, off Ijede Road in Ikorodu area of Lagos, is a popular
local pub known as Abe Oparun. Literally translated, the name
means, underneath the bamboo trees. At this joint, palm wine
is relished from dawn till dusk.
The owner of the busy palm wine joint is Madam Helen Daniel.
The ebullient woman, an Ijaw from Delta State, manages the
place with her two grown children, Sunday and Efe.
Abe Oparun is an open space with five large raffia huts and
long bamboo chairs for the customers.
It is a place where people come from far and near to quench
their thirst with the white substance and savour the taste
of bush meat pepper soup. They are also there to fill their
lungs with fresh, unpolluted air under the bamboo canopies.
Madam Helen spoke to Daily Sun in-between attending to customers
and adding condiments to a huge pot inside which large chunks
of bush meat simmered. According to her, she started the joint
about 10 years ago without the slightest inkling that it would
become a huge success.
“I just developed interest in the business and moved
into this bush,” she said. “I started the business
to make people happy and it is working.”
Where she comes from, the palm wine business is purely for
the man. She is grateful to God, however, that she has been
able to make a huge mark in the business.
“I didn’t know it would be this big because I
started by collecting palm wine in small jerry cans,”
she said. “But today, I bring them in drums. It is God’s
doing.”
Distance is not a discouraging factor when it comes to unwinding
at Abe Oparun. Customers stream in from places as far as Apapa,
Lagos Island, Victoria Island and even Abeokuta. Here, status
is insignificant. There is no preferential treatment when
it comes to parking slots as exotic cars could been seen jostling
for space with trucks.
“All of us na the same thing here. Na where we see,
we dey park. Na the same enjoyment carry us come here”,
quipped a trailer driver as he parked his truck and made for
the joint.
In a day, Madam Helen disclosed that she gets over 100 customers.
Those who regularly patronize the place are already familiar
with the time fresh palm wine arrives as well as when the
tastefully spiced grass-cutter, antelope and ponmo are ready.
Many of the revellers also prefer to have their palm wine
mixed with stout. Cartons of various stout brands are stacked
high farther in the shrubs, away from the rays of the sun.
According to Chief Biodun Osho who said he has been patronizing
the joint for the past eight years, the fresh air under the
canopy attracts him daily.
“Any time you look for me in my house and can’t
find me, just come to this place. The air here is better than
that of an air conditioner. This is the best way and place
to relax,” he said.
Sunny T, another customer, said he became addicted to the
joint after he was brought by a friend five years back. He
is stuck to the place, he confessed, adding that he does not
find pleasure in visiting any other place.
Kayode Bolu told Daily Sun that he was on his way to Lagos
from Benin when he stumbled on the joint.
“We decided to drive though Imota to Igbogbo to beat
the traffic in the heart of Ikorodu. We were attracted to
this place because of the peaceful environment,” he
said.
Many of the customers said they patronize the joint because
of the health benefits of palm wine. Majority of them described
palm wine as a harmless aphrodisiac, adding that sterility
can’t be suffered by a palm wine connoisseur.
They also explained that the drink contains yeast which clears
the eyes of impurities.
“People don’t know that palm wine clears the eye.
All the yeast in the market can’t perform the function
of palm wine,” noted Sunday, an attendant at Abe Oparun.
Prince Dennis, another customer stressed that palm wine enhances
the libido more than even the paraga, (herbs marinated in
local gin, popularly called ogogoro).
“It enhances the libido and does not have side effects
like all those drugs sold by road side herbs sellers. All
these local concoctions will only send a man to his early
grave. Palm wine cleanses the system and it is very useful
in curing measles. Once you bathe a child with palm wine,
the measles would clear. It is also good for breastfeeding
mothers.”
For Udeme Udoh, palm wine increases sperm count. In his words,
any man that takes it regularly can’t complain of weakness
in the bedroom.
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