Cassava leaves (Isombe) are a very popular commodity, especially at weekends. Many women take advantage of this to sell and pound large quantities of Isombe. Burundi Eco went to meet these brave women who live off pestle to support their families. Reporting.
Selling isombe is a trivialized job in some circles, but it still allows Mrs. Ngendakumana to feed her family.(photo Yaga)
We are 5 p.m. in the small Carama market near the RN9. Ms. Daphrose Ngendakumana, a 53-year-old mother rents a house in Tenga. She has been selling and pounding cassava leaves since 2019.
She started with a capital of 10,000 francs, but today she has reached a capital of 30,000 francs a day. She wakes up at 4 a.m. to get supplies at the Muzinda market. After buying and packing the goods, she goes to her place of work.
There, she retails a pile of cassava leaves for 500 Fbu. To pound, the customer must pay him an additional 300 Fbu. A pile of Isombe that can be bought at 1,000 Fbu is crushed for 500 Fbu.
Her granddaughter, a schoolgirl at Kinama IV Basic School in 5th grade, approaches her every day at 9 a.m. to help her pound and prepare food there even before going to school following. – noon.
Tedious work…
Mrs. Ngendakumana affirms that her job certainly allows her to meet the needs of her family, but also that it is demanding. “This work requires perseverance and patience. I can run out of customers today and find them tomorrow. I never go away except when there are no goods. I spend the whole day here to come home around 9 p.m., ”she said.
She testifies that instead of going to beg in the streets while her arms and legs are still valid, she preferred to sell cassava leaves. “I also didn’t have the capital to run a shop, for example. The beginnings are always difficult but, little by little, I got used to it. I’m not complaining, because I can’t run out of something to eat, ”says this forty-year-old.
Trivialized work in Burundi
Selling isombe is a trivialized job in some circles, but it still allows Mrs. Ngendakumana to feed her family. “With the income I get from the sale of cassava leaves, I manage to pay the rent and school fees for my child and the money earned by pounding the cassava leaves helps me cover other needs.” Daphrose Ngendakumana urges other girls and women not to sink into idleness, because there is no stupid job.
