2015-03-19Staff Report 2 WINDHOEK - With the looming drought, business is rather slow for the women selling animal fodder along the B1 road north of Windhoek. Over 20 women who hail mainly from informal settlements wake up at 06:00 to ensure they are by the roadside at 08:00 to sell grass, lucerne, prosopis and camel thorn pods to make ends meet. The women have to walk a distance of about 10 kilometres into the bushes nearby to gather their stock to sell to customers, the majority of whom are farmers. New Era last week spoke to some of the women who said business was rather slow. “But it’s better to be here because we at least get money to take home to our families. Some days we make money and other days we don’t sell anything and thus we go home with no money,” said Naloliwa Nakale who has been selling along the B1 road for the past two years. A bag of prosopis and camel thorn pods costs N$40 while a bundle of grass and lucerne costs N$5. “Our customers came from as far as Swakopmund. But most of them are farmers who reside on farms near Windhoek,” Nakale explained. “We gather the grass and prosopis pods deep in the bushes close to the mountains,” Nakale says. After that the women have to package the grass and pods which they sell to farmers who mainly use it as animal fodder, explained Nakale. Peneyambeko Paulus said that from the fodder she sells, she is able to sustain her family and also send money to the north. “I am working very hard because I want to send money home to Ohangwena Region – considering that the rain is scarce the little I send them will mean so much,” Paulus said. “In a month we can make N$1 000 or N$800, it just depends how hard we work and whether we get customers,” she said. Nakale added: “People think we are not important because we sell along the road. But it is better to work with my hands than to sit at home not doing anything.” 2015-03-19Staff Report 2
