Through corn business, my children are graduates – 67-year-old hawker

Sixty-seven -year-old Talatu Emmanuel is a widow who is making brisk business from the sale of boiled corn, which she says has enabled her to train her children, two of whom are already graduates.

The mother of five, who lost her husband 19 years ago, said though the trade may look menial to many, it has been her family’s source of livelihood since the demise of the family patriarch and breadwinner.

In a chat with Arewa Trust Weekly, Talatu said: “God has been my pillar in the last 19 years.

“When my husband died 19 years ago, I had no job and no capital to start a business, but God sent a guardian angel; she did not know me, but she trusted me and gave me capital to start a trade with the promise that when I sold the corn, I would pay her back. Out of that, I saved the profit and that is how I ventured into the trade that is keeping me and my children alive.”

Talatu, a resident of Unguwan Makama, said with the help of God, she’s had no cause to go around begging as she and her children have continued to survive on the small proceeds from the trade.

The mother of five, however, said though she is happy that two of her children have become graduates through the corn trade, she was disappointed that they have been unable to find jobs.

Our correspondent observed that immediately Talatu arrived at the Kakuri area with her corn stacked up in an iron bowl, residents within the vicinity surrounded her asking to be given corn. The corn seller, who also has a separate bowl of coconut slices to complement the corn, was seen making brisk business as satisfied customers took the news to others that were not aware of her presence. By the time she was done, she had just a few pieces of corn remaining.

Speaking on how she gets the corn, she said: “I go to a market in Badiko. It is not an easy task because after you are done struggling to get good corn from the market, you wonder if you will come back again, but what can we do?

“I am able to buy corn worth N3, 000 every day and by the grace of God, I never return home with even one corn, as I am able to sell all and with the small profit, I am able to attend to my needs,” she said.

Talatu, however, said that when it is off season for corn, she hawks sugar cane and banana just to make ends meet, adding that: “I also have a small poultry in my backyard where I have few chicks. I pray that one day I will stop hawking and own a poultry farm.”

Talatu whose oldest child is 28 years said her daughter helps her hawk when they are not in school as her children know that it is through the trade that they have become who they are today.

She called on government to empower struggling women, especially widows with skills and little capital to expand their trade in order to become self-sufficient and take care of their home.