All manner of hampers

All manner of hampers
FUNKE ADETUTU

In the spirit of the season I decided to take a walk in my area some days ago. Since it was nearing 9pm most shops were preparing to close for business while the goods in the few ones that were closed were visible through the glass doors.
“We have a wide choice of hampers perfect for showing your love and good will for your family or friends,” reads a notice hanging on the wall and at this point I remeber the conversation I had with my friend.
Just the night before Christmas, a friend gave me a ride home, and he pointedly said: “what kind of hamper do people give these days or should I say what kind of hampers are sold in the market?”
“Why did you say that,” I asked? “Someone brought a hamper to my office today and when I unwrapped it, I realised that there was nothing in there?” “How do you mean,” I probed a bit further faking ignorance since I knew where he was headed with the conversation.
“There were few items in it. I mean, the bottom of the basket was filled with sheets of paper. You can imagine that kind of daylight robbery,” he exclaimed.
“Well, I believe it’s not the fault of the giver,” I tried to make him see reasons. The blame should be laid at the doorstep of the sellers who want to make so much gain from people’s ignorance.”
“Yes, I know but that is what I find most disgusting. Why would any one want to profit by deceiving other people? That is absolutely uncalled for.”
What my friend did not understand that night was the fact that ‘shocking’ the contents of hampers with cartons and sheet of papers was an age long practice since hampers were introduced into the shores of Nigeria.
My friend was not the only one who with this kind of predicament. Our associate news editor here at BuisnessDay, John Osadolor also received a hamper on Tuesday. When he brought it into the Newroom everyone laughed at the smallness of the basket. An inquisitive me was right on time to check the content of the hamper since I plan to do a piece on hampers. I was not surprised to discover that even as little as the basket was, the contents were ‘shocked’ with papers! It contained two bars of soap, a notebook and a small jar of liquid soap.
Funnily, the frenzy at which hampers flew around was nothing compared with the previous years, negatively this time, I’ll quickly add. It was as if the givers were reluctant to let them out and when they did, they were just something else! And to think that people were short-changed with the few available ones was funny.
Historically, the word Hamper is a primarily British term for a wicker basket, usually large, used for the transport of food. Hampers were traditionally used for picnics due to the open ventilation and sturdiness offered by the wicker basket. There is also a long tradition of social philanthropy and charity related to hampers. In the Western tradition, the hamper was a basket that could be delivered by hand to the lucky receiving family. Such hampers made ideal gifts, and the willow basket made for a useful item around the house or farm.
In Rome and other civilised countries of the world, community groups or individuals would donate hampers of food, clothing, toiletries and other household necessities to deprived families as a gesture of good will and community spirit.
Hampers today have become a very popular way of expressing seasonal good spirit at Christmas. Therefore, if hampers are for charity and are meant to show love, the sellers should learn to be discreet with the arrangement of the content so that the giver would not be seen as giving the gift with bad bele to use the local parlance.
And maybe governor Fashola can also come to the consumers’ rescue on this since there is a new law in the state that traders should buy the recommended cups and bowls for measuring grains and other commodities in the market. I’m sure this was put in place to checkmate the excesses of traders in not using the right measuring apparatus. This is to sound a note of warning to all those market women not to shortchanged the consumers as we prepare for another Christmas in 2009!