Recession no hassle for blind pie-maker

BY MICHAEL FIELD

When Michael Erasmus talks about his pies looking "pleasing to the eye" it's surprising.

The 22-year-old baker is totally blind in one eye and has only five percent vision in his other eye.

His blindness was caused by a condition which affected his optic nerve from birth.

Blindness, he says, would have affected him "if I acted as if it was a problem....

"If I concentrate on that I am going to go downhill. I don't even think about that....

"I grew up and learnt how to do everything in this condition, so I haven't let this be a problem."

Erasmus is an ambassador for the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind's annual Blind Week appeal running this week.

Starting a new business in a recession holds no fears for the Whangaparaoa man, as he seeks to open up a chain of pie shops called Nomads. One shop is open already, the other opens next month.

"I think that is all opportunity if it wasn't for the recession we would not be able to pick up our equipment for half price."

He knows how hard it is for disabled people to get jobs, so is determined in Nomads to hire people in similar situations to him.

"I think something good can happen there."

He specializes in selling a pack that includes a gourmet pie, mashed potato, gravy and peas.

"These pies are a lot different; they are different to any bakery pie."

He makes the pastry himself, rejecting a single factory style pastry for the whole pie.

"They do not focus on that good look, golden brown and flaky," he says.

"Manufactured pies have tops that look the same as the bottom.

"A pie seems a simple thing but it is quite involved in manufacturing them. You have to worry about two different pastries."

His pies are full of meat.

"It is almost like a shiny coat, it is much more appealing to the eye and it tastes different."

The Erasmus family came from South Africa nine years ago.

"We came here with a thousand dollars in the pocket. We didn't know where we were going, didn't know what we were doing."

His father packed supermarket shelves, his mother worked in the deli and his brother was a trolley boy.

"After that everything just fell into place."

Erasmus speaks strongly of the support New Zealand gives to people like him.

"I don't think you can get this support anywhere else in the world, it is a great country like this that allows people like me to do these sorts of things."

He is undeterred by the drama of opening a new business.

"I would by lying if I wasn't nervous about opening a new business. It is driving me nuts on one hand, but on the other hand it makes me excited."

*Blind Week runs until November 2. Call 0800 DONATE (366 283) or visit blindweek.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News