Tuesday August 15, 2023
Ulimo, 51, in the shop she opened after years of labour and saving/Abdullahi Abdirahman/Ergo
After several years doing hard manual labour on construction sites in Baidoa, Ulimo Abdullahi Malim, a single of mother of six, has managed to set up a stable business that is providing for her children.
Ulimo, 51, has been saving money for years and now runs her own shop selling clothes, food and utensils.
She arrived in Baidoa widowed and worried about how to raise her children alone after being displaced by drought from Tieglow in Bakool region and losing her husband to hepatitis in 2013.
“I started this business from a job that isn’t easy for women and I’m using it to support my children’s education and lives. I get about $50 profit a day. There’s been a huge transformation in my life, and I don’t depend on other people now I earn money by my own effort,” she said proudly.
For seven years, however, she was doing back-breaking work carrying sand and cement on building sites. She diligently saved three dollars every day in a rotating savings scheme from the five dollars she would make form one day’s labour.
She remembers the aches and pains of doing manual labour.
“My circumstances pushed me to work there though it’s not a woman’s job. But I was active and that is how I got the job. If people don’t know you, they won’t even give you that job. If you work with people and they see you’re good they will employ you. I was working there for a long time but now I have stopped, thank God,” she said.
She started her own business in 2021 with $900 she had saved up. Her shop is now worth $3,000 and growing thanks to her determination and entrepreneurship. She pays $60 a month in fees for her four older children in Moodal primary and middle school in Baidoa.
“We use our income to pay the electricity and water bills. I can take care of the children’s food, thank God. Before we used to cook just once, but now we cook food three times a day,” she said.
Having been dependent on relatives for shelter and food for her children when she first arrived in Baidoa, she was pleased to be able to move into their own two-roomed house.
Ulimo noted that divorced or widowed mothers suffer disproportionate hardships to make ends meet for their children. Her advice to other women in a similar position as hers is to undertake all kinds of work to support their families.