Vendors in Bukedea Market Rescue their Own
“The first thing we did was sacrifice our profits from our small savings group. After that, we each contributed money to add to what the circle had given,”
Photo source: Google images
Mercy Ariokot, a market vendor in Bukedea District first complained of pain in her abdomen at the beginning of the lockdown. Toto (which means mother in the local dialect of Ateso), noticed that the pain was only getting worse as the weeks went by. Sadly, her business was not making as much either. Meaning that she could not afford to get the needed treatment.
Though fellow vendors at the market didn’t know what she was battling, they noticed that she had stopped coming to work. When they tried to reach her through her mobile phone, they found that it was off for many weeks on end. They got concerned and decided to visit her at her home on Malera road in the suburbs of Bukedea, to see if all was well.
According to Rose Kulume, who is also a vendor in the very market, they didn’t think the pain would escalate to the point that Ariokot was bedridden. “When she sold off her stock, we thought she was going to buy more, but she did not,” Kulume recounts. “Mercy was very sick and had also sold off her phone to help pay for medicine when they found that she had a strange illness in her stomach”.
Though the vendors don’t know what illness Ariokot is battling, they decided to render financial support. “The first thing we did was sacrifice our profits from our small savings group. After that, we each contributed money to add to what the circle had given,” Kulume explained.
Ariokot got a surprise visit from at least ten members of their savings group, all of whom are vendors at the market. They gave her nearly half a million shillings. It is the money that helped return the single mother of five, back to her feet and back to work.
“She is back at work now and part of the money is what she used to invest back into her stock and the other to pay for medicine,” Kulume continued to recount.
This act of philanthropy was a reminder to the vendors and those in their circles that help does not have to come from the wealthy. It was by collective efforts and love for one another.
By CivSource Team