Jenny’s veggies sales help family

**Diena Apimo with her bag of fertiliser from the National Development Bank. – Nationalpics by GYNNIE GERO**

By GYNNIE KERO
SHE arrived in Port Moresby at a tender age of six and lived with her father at Erima in the late 1970s.
Jenny Mio, now a grandmother, is from Henganofi in Eastern Highlands.
She is a familiar face at the fresh produce market along the Somare Crescent Road in Waigani, Port Moresby.
With no basic education, she worked odd jobs to supplement the little income from her husband.

**Hula Mosaro from Eastern Highlands roasting kaukaus (sweet potatoes) over the fire to sell at the roadside market at Somare Crescent Road, Waigani.**

Jenny, like other Eastern Highlanders, is hardworking but what she was earning was not enough to support her five children.
She and other women looked around the city for vacant land to start gardens.
They ended up at the undeveloped state land in front of the National Development Bank and began to plant vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce. Very soon, others joined and they formed the Apo market fresh produce association.
This week the National Development Bank assisted the group with bags of fertilisers and cabbage seedlings.
According to Jenny, living in the city was a daily struggle.
“It’s a 6am to 6pm job,” she said.
“In the morning, I go to Gordon market to buy water melons, corns, coconut that I don’t grow in my garden.

**Judia Billy from Okapa, Eastern Highlands, cooking corns.**

“Then I come here. My children used to help me attend to customers while I work in the garden at the back.
“I have five children. I sponsored some of them to complete upper grades in school.
“They didn’t do well.
“Im still farming the land to help my family. We make good money.
“A vendor on average can make K500 per day.”
Another woman from Goroka, Hula Mosaro resides at Saraga in 6-Mile.
She buys taro from Gordon and cook them before reselling them.

**Some of the 36 members of the Apo fresh produce association that received assistance from the National Development Bank.**

Her children often help out at the makeshift tent where they sell food.
“Every day we get customers and it helps us a lot,” Mosaro said.
We make gardens and sell food crops.
“We also buy and resell.”
Hula said she was so happy that her eldest son would be doing his first year at the University of Papua New Guinea this year.
Port Moresby residents looking for fresh produce or food roasted over open fires frequent the small market along the Somare Crescent Road in Waigani.