Lion 'D Punchman'

YOU MAY have seen him pushing his cart in and around Scarborough and have dismissed him as “just another one” but Eldon Walcott is no ordinary punchman, he is “D Punchman.” In fact with his nutritional blends with names such as “replacement killer,” “eyes and heart,” “stamina man” and the “iron man” that he has invented and tested himself, he could have very well been a medical doctor. And get this! He not only carries punches in his little cart, now dubbed the “moving restaurant” but aloo pies as well. Shumba Lion, as he is known in the reggae world (having shared the stage with reggae artiste Glen Washington and the likes), has been in the punch business for the past 11 years. It was borne out of divine intervention while looking for a way to “bail himself” out of legal difficulties.

“I came home one night and saw my wife frying pies. When I watched them I said, ‘look boy, these things looking good to sell’ and she suggested that we try it. The next day I moved out with a box of pies and I got one and two sales well. Then people began asking me, Shumba what to drink now? When I came home I made some carrot and pumpkin punches but the main one I went to town with was the susumber and that was it,” the punchman reflected. For a little more than a year, Shumba “moved around town” selling his products out of a bucket and an ice box. From there, he said, his popularity grew and with that popularity came the desire to expand his business. “Actually, after I had paid the court, I got a vision one night that I was in the town shoving the cart with all the drinks inside. Me and my brethren then set out to build one,” And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Lion’s energy drinks are made from just about “anything that is good for you” including carrots, red beans, linseed, pumpkin, susumber  (A bitter fruit, the size of a channa which is used as a blood builder), breadfruit, beet, blackeyed beans, bhagi, celery, raw nuts and special combinations of various raw foodstuff. Naturally, after so many years of making the nutritious drinks, he has become an expert. “I have a new one that I brought out, I call it the ‘earth strong.’  When you drink that it cleans out your inside, trust me. This has all the good vitamins and everything in it. This is the real thing to build your blood up and everything one time. Wow,” he mused, as if shocked at his own ability to create the power drink. Contrary to popular belief that men are greater punch lovers than women, Shumba pointed out that “plenty ladies, real ladies boy. Woo!” craved his drinks as well.
His large clientele also includes the officer who had arrested and charged him years ago and to whom he is eternally grateful.

“Sometimes I does say those fellas did a good for me. It was a little painful but, boy, that open my eyes unto where life is concerned. It happened this way and it (my life) swing right away round and it wasn’t bad at all,” he stated. However, true to form that behind every successful man there is a good, strong woman, Shumba credits his wife of 17 years, Anthia, with doing all the hard work. His four children have also been drafted into the business. “If I didn’t have her I don’t know what I would do. Sometimes all I have to say is that I want such and such and they make it like that. But you see when I go out there I am the man because out there is a different thing from in here. You see the sale out there, that dealing with the people, dread, that’s the most important part,” he said as he lovingly looked at his family. Not forgetting his roots, for the past five years Shumba and his family, with the help of Dairy Dairy Milk company, have been giving back to the Pembroke community through an annual children’s party.
His children’s education, home, car and other luxuries are the fruits of his labour in the punch business and Shumba has visions of opening his own restaurant which he plans to name “the Original Punchman Restaurant or something like that.”