Selling plants on the highway – A mother’s way of making means

By Musa Zimunya

WINDHOEK, Mar. 30 – As cars continuously tear away on the B1 highway, Albertina Haihambo patiently waits for one of them to make a stop and buy acacia bulbs and other coniferous tree seeds that she has mounted on display.

Packaged and ready to go: some of the seeds that Haihambo has placed on display

Every morning at around 06h00, Albertina wakes up from her humble residence in Babylon location and journeys over a mountain to her place of work. She collects seeds that have dropped from the Acacia tree – among others – and gathers them before packaging them in 10 and 20 kg bags that she obtains from Katutura Shoprite.

As she bides her time for customers, she patiently sickles down long blades of grass, bundles them into hay stacks, and neatly piles them.

The grass bundle’s go for N$5, while 10 and 20kg bags of seeds fetch N$10 and N$25 respectively. She has been at it for the past five years; a caring single mother that supports four kids aged 24, 22, 18 and 13. Two girls and two boys.

A full display of her daily stock

For Albertina, the only holiday she knows is Christmas in December, when she goes home to her native Ohangwena region and ploughs in the fields.

“I come here everyday. As you can see today is Easter Weekend but there is no holiday for me, only in December. I travel from Bablyon location by foot, and cross (this) mountain. There is no money to waste for taxi,” she narrated to this reporter.

Haihambo cuts grass as she waits for customers

A stack of bags present at her work space amounted to N$150 when calculated, but that figure is hard to realise considering the rarity of customers.

Waiting for the customer: Sometimes the wait for customers is long and arduous, while sometimes, there is nothing to show for all her efforts.

“I make between N$50 to N$100 on a good day. But more often, I am forced to just go home with nothing because there are no customers.”

She painfully described how some white farmers would come in their trucks and barter away her entire stock.

“There used to be some white farmers who would come and buy my goods. But then they want me to decrease the prices from N$10 to $5; from $25 to $20. And they make sure that they take EVERYTHING. It is just for me to accept or else they will go elsewhere to someone who is also looking for money, and that person will take it.”

There is no shortage of challenges at her place of work.

“Because these bags are a lot and tough to carry them all, I just leave them here overnight. But then sometimes I come to work and find that the bags are missing because some people take them over the night, and then feed their animals. Then I have to start collecting again, sometimes going back home to look for bags,” she explained.

“When it rains, I go and hide in my (makeshift) plastic shelter. I just have to work because my family will starve.”

 

The shelter that Haihambo utilises to weather the elements

That does not deter her from working, and neither does the rain.

“When it rains, I go and hide in my (makeshift) plastic shelter. I just have to work because my family will starve.”

Her eldest son failed to get the necessary matric points required for admission into a tertiary institution, and she is labouring away, trying to raise money for him to go back and add the necessary subjects. Her other children are also in school on their mother’s modest earnings.

Haihambo is a hard worker, loving mother, and unafraid to brave any storm. While people are celebrating Easter, she patiently waits for a customer to purchase her goods.

Contact her on 0818099443 and place your order.

musa@namibiadailynews.info