Vegetables support Kelo

WITH the academic year fast approaching, students and parents are working to have school fees ready.
For single mum Catherin Kelo, that means selling vegetables to earn that money.
From Tugu in Tari-Pori, Hela, Kelo sells vegetables at the Waigani market in Port Moresby daily to support her five children – two sons and three daughters.
“Working parents are standing in line at the bank to get loans for school fees, unlike some of us in the informal sector doing marketing to raise money for our children,” Kelo said.
Last year, the Covid-19 disrupted Kelo’s vegetable sales.
She is hopeful that 2021 would be a better year.
Kelo has two grown-up children but looks after her family because living in the city was hard with the rising cost of goods; she needs to spend on necessities such as rent, food and hospital bills.
She could not afford to send all her children to school and two of her daughters got married.
Kelo buys vegetables from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, and Central, and resells them at the market.
She spends more than K100 daily to get the goods to the market and makes between K300 to K400 a day.
Kelo, who has spent close to 20 years in the city, never completed her education but said her basic knowledge and help from friends and relatives had enabled her to look after her family.
“You can’t wait for the Government or big people to come and give you free handouts. You sweat and you will survive in the city. We sell and we make money, just like people who work in the office.”