Hawkers are more often looked down upon as many people consider their work to be inferior or even less important.
You will find them in almost every shopping centre, street, town with merchadise hang on their shoulders, hands or strapped on their backs in search of customers.
In major urban centres like Thika, Nairobi, Nakuru to name but a few, hawkers are usually harassed by county authorities, arrested and meted with unwarranted punishment.
But have you ever paused to ponder what the life of a street hawker entails?
Well, on Tuesday I met with Jacob Kimani who hawks honey in Thika town. He said hawking is not a job for the faint hearted.
"To be a hawker, you must have a thick skin and enough shock absorbers to last you the period that you will be in the job," Kimani, a diploma graduate from the Kenya Institute of Management said.
He added: "The job involves a lot of walking and you may not sell a single unit at the end. Every day you wake up expecting the day will be better than yesterday. That is what keeps a hawker going".
Kimani said a hawker has to juggle between convincing unwilling buyers to and looking after the hawk-eyed county askaris who always arrest them at any available chance.
He, however, said that the job despite its hardships enables him to put food on the table and save a little for the rainy day.
"I have to keep on doing this job because this is what feeds my family. Sometimes I may go to a customer and even before I explain to him/her about my product, they tell me that what I am serving them is not honey but molasses. I feel dejected but I have to go on," he said.