Chimbu woman resells newspaper to support family

APART from reading daily breaking news updates, newspapers may have a variety of uses and one such put into a form of business is the story of Esther John from Gembolg in Chimbu.
John makes weekly trips to Lae from Kundiawa to purchase a stock of newspapers to resell in her hometown, Kundiawa.
The mother of six said she and her husband had been reselling newspaper pages to smokers at the famous “Yuwai” market in Kundiawa town.
She said the long journey down the Highlands Highway was worth it, since the newspaper pages sell like hotcakes upon her return home.
“Mi save salim niuspepa lo olgeta kainkain man na meri, na ol pikini tu,” she explained in Tok Pisin. (I sell these newspaper pages to a lot of men and women including children too).
John said she sells a page for 30 toea or 50 toea for two pages.
“Gutpela taim mi save salim lo 50 toea lo wanpela peig.” (On a good day, I sell a pages for 50 toea).
She said the money she earns help to feed her family, cater for school fees and even traditional ceremonies like bride price.
“Man blo mi tu save helpim mi lo go daun lo Lae na baim niupela stok pepa tu taim em pinis.” (My husband also helps at times to go down to Lae and buy new stock of papers when they run out).”
She said The National was sought after many times because there were more available for sale.
John further explained that the papers were sometimes purchased to use in chicken sheds.
“Mi save wokim gut money, win moni olsem K200-K300 lo tu o tripla bandol niuspepa.” (I make good profit from the sales of newspapers usually around K200 to K300 from the two to three bundles),” she said.
John said that newspapers would reach Kundiawa town a day late from either Goroka or Mt Hagen and so it was more convenient to travel to Lae and purchase her stock since the price of a single newspaper could be K2.50 to K3.00 when sold in Kundiawa.
She said apart from selling newspapers, she would also sell fresh produce including potatoes, cabbages and carrots to buyers in Lae then buy newspapers and make trip back to Kundiawa.
“Mi wanbel tasol wanpela hevi em olsem gavaman mas stretim haiwei na mipela ken travel safe go kam lo Lae.” (I’m happy with my sale of newspapers however the government must fix the Highlands Highway soon so it would be safer for us to travel to and from Lae.)”.
Business interventions like John’s show resilience in making a living and opening opportunities for products such as newspapers could be utilised as a source of income apart from reading for news updates.