Everyday People: Evelyn Mark

Evelyn Mark is a single woman from Wabag. She now lives in Vadavada in NCD in a rented room.

“I don’t have a house but I’m renting one of those K100 rooms at Vadavada. I don’t have any family, I am living on my own. I don’t even have a partner,” she says.

Evelyn’s husband passed away in 2014 and left her with a son who is now 16 years old, and lives in Wabag with is mother’s relatives. She said she is not able to put her child to school because she couldn’t find enough money to pay for his school fees.  

“I find life very difficult for me and there is no one to take care of me, so this little market is very important to me for my survival, Evelyn said.  

“I come here to 13 bus stop to do my market. I sell small things like buai, smoke, eggs and coca cola. I don’t have much to sell right now because I don’t have enough capital to start off with. Well previously, police were chasing us but now they said we can sit here and market our things so we are here.

“I really want to make my market bigger like selling more eggs, more coca cola so I can make more money, than I am making now, then I think I will overcome my struggles,” Evelyn added.

She said currently she’s just making K10 to K20 so there is no way she can make a big profit to buy more stuff to sell, and when she is sick and cannot market then there is no money and no food for her. That’s how hard life is for Evelyn.   

Evelyn never went to school and she blames her parents for that. She came to Moresby because her relatives provided a ticket for her, but then they all went their own ways, abandoning her to fend for herself. She said market is her survival but she needs more money to make it bigger.

Author: 
Frieda Kana