A tomato seller : 'My profits fill my food ration'
Béatrice Mukarurangwa has been trading tomatoes, onions and bananas for two years in the Nakivale refugee camp. She says she earns little.
The problem is her small capital that is about 20 or 30 thousand Ugandan shillings. Béatrice Mukarurangwa says her onion, tomato and banana business allows her to survive even though she cannot afford the children's school fees. ‘’ It’s not enough for school fees. But I buy soap. The benefit also allows me to fill the food ration during the month’’, explains Béatrice. This refugee from Nakivale says her business is made up of strategies. “I can decide for example to use 5 thousand to get a profit of 2 or 3 thousand or I use a capital of 10 thousand to earn 2 thousand of profit. And sometimes instead of buying bananas, I look for tomatoes or fish to see if I can earn more‘’.
Transport among the challenges
When she fails to exhaust her commodities, Beatrice indicates that it is her capital that is shrinking because some of them are consumed or deteriorate. This refugee from Nakivale also faces transport problems. “We have a problem with the distance between our household and the place of supply. Sometimes it is difficult for us to transport our goods from there".
But the big problem for Béatrice Mukarurangwa is her small capital. Like other Burundian refugees in Nakivale camp in Uganda, Béatrice Mukarurangwa fled the socio-political crisis that erupted in 2015 in Burundi.
With the support of the Austrian Development Cooperation