Fixing watches for a living

Gideon Soza who hails from Mwamadi village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chikumbu in Mulanje has lived a hopeful life where he realised it is only through hard work and perseverance that life would become better.

Soza, who has spent the majority of his life working in his watch repair booth ‘Know Your Time Watch Repair,’ has over the years managed to sustain himself and his family through the profits he has made in his booth.

“I dropped out of school after I completed grade eight because I didn’t have enough funds to go further with my education. I knew my life wouldn’t amount to much if I stayed in the village so I came to town to try my luck,” he said.

His gamble paid off as he managed to land a job as soon as he came to the city in 1983. He began working with Kondwani Watch Repair which was situated at Blantyre market in room eight.

“When I was in the village, I used to hang around a certain guy who used to repair watches. I was very fascinated with what he did so I would try to imitate what he did now and again until one day I realised I could fix a watch just as well as he did,” Soza recalled.

A year later, Soza severed ties with Kondwani Watch Repair shop and embarked on the road to set up his own watch repair booth. In 1984 he finally managed to set up shop on the veranda of a shop in Limbe which is now called Zubeda Shopping Centre where he is located.

“Most people wouldn’t consider this as a monumental achievement but for me this was quite something considering my rough background. After years of trying to establish myself it had finally happened,” he said.

The job, however ,has a few challenges. With the vast increased dependency on technology, repairing watches is not as lucrative as it used to be. More and more people have over the years stopped buying wrist watches because they use their cell phones as a communication device and a watch.

Despite all this, Soza has managed to procure land which he used to build a house. He also uses some of the profits he makes to put some of his relatives in the village through school.

“Everything I have I owe to this business. On my level, I feel that I have managed to achieve something and I am proud of myself. I have a place I can call a home of my own, I am also putting my children and grandchildren through school because I know the importance of education”.

“Who knows where I would be right now had I been blessed enough to complete my education,” Soza wondered.

His watch repair shop is called ‘Know Your Time Watch Repair’ because from a young age, the importance of keeping time was drilled into him.