Shoe repairer Daphne Cameron has persons stepping out in style

Fifty years ago, Daphne Cameron found herself yearning to learn a new skill as she grew weary of her domestic helper job.

Her curiosity led her to seek a job at a shoe repair shop on Maxfield Avenue, St Andrew, even though the Montegonian had no knowledge or experience in operating a sewing machine. However, today her skills are a testament to the hours spent as a machine operator, quickly weaving thread and leather straps through the machine to repair shoes.

"Me used to do domestic work and me pass and ask if him want somebody fi work. Him [the owner] ask wah kind of work me can do and me tell him me can't do shoemaking but me will practise. So, him say me muss come the Monday, so me just lef' the [domestic] work and go the Monday and him put me pon the machine, take out the thread dem, and him make me do some straight stitch every day so till me can control the machine," Cameron related.

She worked in the shop for a year until she got pregnant and decided to seek employment in downtown Kingston. By 1999, she started working on Church Street, where she secured employment as a machine operator. She reminisces on a time when shoemakers were admired by many and were sought after to effect repairs on faulty shoes.

Armed with her scissors and a good sense of measurement, Cameron, 73, admits that it is her love for stitching that ties her to the job. She told THE STAR that she starts working from as early as 7 a.m., fixing over 100 shoes and bags for vendors in the business district. Her job, she said, brings her a great sense of relaxation.

"Every day me have nuff shoes to fix. Even this morning, the man dem bring a whole lot of shoes but tru me stitch fast, me finish them. As them make them slippers, dem come back with more straps for me to stitch. Me nuh have fi use inch measure, me just judge. See like if the shoes dem come now, me just make the person try it on and then I bring it down to their size and mark it," she said, pointing to the mountains of shoes still to be reconstructed.

The mother of six opined that young people should be enrolled in vocational institutions to be qualified in a trade, as she believes the art of shoemaking and repair is quickly fading. She also theorised that crime and violence wreaks havoc on society, thus discouraging young people from becoming gainfully employed.

"When me just come here [Church Street] come work, we used to make shoes and deliver to stores. Me used to carry shoes go Linstead and sell but all of a sudden it stop, and [people] get shoes from foreign. Me woulda want them come back. The Government can fix up some of the old building and start up back some factories. I would want that," she said.