At 29, single-lady Helen Ugwu Ukam was sighted hawking a tray of fruits, unperturbed, amid a drizzle of rains in the University of Uyo Town Campus.
Balanced on her head, while calling out to customers, was a tray of fruits which included cucumber and groundnuts. She didn’t hesitate to oblige the Saturday Tribune correspondent’s request for a chat.
Her story: “My name is Helen Ngwu Ukam. I’m from Cross Rivers State, Idiase Local Government Area.
“I relocated to Uyo about two years ago. I was in Enugu before I came down to Akwa Ibom State.
“I started by working with a company then I later quit the work and started hawking fruits for survival.
“As a lady working with that company, it was tough. We slept outside, in the open, at our risk. You understand the risks. We suffered in the hands of area boys.
“I gathered a little money for hustling and started the fruit business with N5,000. I used the money to buy varieties of fruit for sale.
“I sell cucumber, groundnut, pineapple, and any fruit available in the market.
“My profit could be N500, N200, in a day, sometimes. At times, N2,000 if a particular fruit can give you a gain of N600.
“I live with my younger sister. We manage with the meagre profit I make. For instance, if I make N2,000 in all, I go to the market and make soup that can sustain us for about three to four days.
“Within the three or four days, I’ll have made another profit to replenish the old soup. That’s how I survive with my sister.
“With Nigeria’s hard economy, one needs to map out one’s strategy on how to manage the situation so that you don’t fall into depression.
“My parents were able to raise us from primary to secondary school. My parents are in the village managing their farms while we’re out in the city to hustle. We have no back-up anywhere. Only God is our back up.
“I’m 29 years old. I wish to expand my business. This is my daily prayer to God so that I do not end up as a liability for the society.
“I surely cannot continue to hawk around all my life. I need funds to start a business in a shop.”
Helen highlighted the hazards associated with hawking as a grown up lady who, ordinarily, should be married but I was still struggling to eke a living for herself and siblings.
“As a lady hawking fruits, you’re seen as the cheapest article on earth! That’s the way people see and classify us.
“I’ve hawked pure water (sachet water) before; when people see you hawking, they see you as being in a state of helplessness.
“You meet them and, of course, you ignore them. You don’t listen to their comments or react to them. You focus on your hustling. You ignore them.
“Some will call you to buy, only to yell at you to get out of the place. Such challenges are ingredients that assist us in life,” she averred.
Fair-complexioned Helen has some pieces of advice for young ladies who seek easy, but deadly paths out of lack and poverty.
“For young girls, who prefer to eke a living the easy way, I advise them not to look for quick money.
“It took God some time to build humans. They should hustle, first, steadily and consistently for God to come through for them.
“They should also abstain from depending on man or get-rich-quick syndrome. God doesn’t work that way.
“They should lay down their lives to hustle and in no time, they’d pull through and have credible and impactful stories to tell their kids in future.
“Ladies like me should know that we own the world. Forget that men are around. Whatever is happening in the lives of our children should be traced to the woman. What built today was yesterday and what builds tomorrow is today.
“Everybody should tighten up their belt and carry on what is favourable to them. They shouldn’t be ashamed to do the legitimate work they love to do. Insults do not wear clothes on people. They insult you, the wind blows it away and you move on,” she admonished.
Helen said there’s much government at all levels can do to alleviate the suffering in the land. For her, the government should first do something about the high cost of transportation – the reason, she asserted, brought about an increase in prices of goods and services.
“As for our government, as far as God has called them into this work, let them listen to God’s direction and carry on their duties to be of help to Nigerians.
“All this hardship and suffering….. – corruption should be stopped. Let them work for humanity and the future.
“Everything done in Nigeria is hinged on transportation. That subsidy removal should be reversed. Transport cost will abate. That’s the basic cause of the cries of Nigerians.
“We now live from hand to mouth. When the cost of transportation is reduced, the dying spirit of Nigerians will come alive again.
“It’s in their power to sit down and think on how to help the industrious poor like us. They can create empowerment for petty traders like us. That’s the assignment God has given them to do, if not, they have no business being in government,” she asserted.
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