You get what you give
‘Every little thing is going to be all right’
NAUSORI market vendor Juta Douglas juggles the demands of the marketplace, the camaraderie of the vendors around him, the memories of a mother who succumbed to diabetes and his own personal ambitions to keep his head above water.
For him, it all balances out.
“Look after your parents because they determine your blessings later in life,” Douglas said.
The middleman, one of Nausori’s 700 market vendors, started his business in 2013 to help his ailing single mother Venani Tinai, who’d been diagnosed with diabetes.
Like his sisters, he was brought up to respect others and help those in need, a lesson he says has helped him through adult life.
“As a child, I had wanted to become a teacher, an English teacher, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined I’d be a market vendor one day,” he said.
“And since childhood, I’ve always known my mother as a hardworking woman who always managed to put food on the table for me and my siblings.”
Douglas, who’s originally from Korotubu in Macuata, remembers when he had to travel to and from his place in Vuci Rd, Nausori to look in on his mom when she was sick with the lifestyle disease.
“I became a market vendor to help her while she was ill.
“I would get to the market, prepare and tend to my stall and then during lunch I would rush back home at Vuci Road. I would prepare mum’s lunch, feed and bathe her and then head back to the market to continue the day’s business proceedings.”
Douglas said he was the only person looking after her when she was stricken with diabetes even though she wouldn’t confine herself to bed after having her right leg amputated — when she felt strong enough she would get up to wash the dishes and clean the house.
“She was one of the people who encouraged me to have my own market stall.”
He added that when he started out at the market he had no idea what operating a stall entailed.
“Within two weeks of starting my business I was lost because I didn’t know how to manage the stall, but I was lucky a good friend taught me the basics, like what to buy and what not to buy from the farmers, and how the market vendors priced and sold their produce.
“I was also a little embarrassed knowing that people who had seen me working as a salesperson would look down on me, but with the support of my family, especially my mother and friends, I was able to remove those doubts.”
Douglas says UN women also played a big role in encouraging him by conducting workshops and forums on how to treat fellow vendors and how to operate a stall.
“From then on I started to really understand how important a role market vendors play in society.”
Then disaster struck in the form of the virus.
“During the lockdown, it was a tough time because I had to travel to the border at Logani Village in Tailevu to get my produce.
“On some days I earned good money, on other days less than average. But I have learnt to manage and budget for what I need,” Douglas said.
In the middle of all this, Douglas has had to contend with the vendors around him and the environment they generate.
“The old market was better because it was smaller than this one, but I can see that the competition between vendors is so fierce, sometimes I can barely feel the air flow.
“Recently, an old man fainted because it was too hot in the market. For nearly six years we’ve been requesting ceiling fans or something to help control the heat in the market but nothing has been done.”
As a result of the poor ventilation, rootcrops and vegetables don’t stay fresh for too long, so there have been times when Juta has had to sell his produce at a reduced price.
“A bundle of moca is $2, but if it is not bought within the day I sell it off at $1.50, or if worse comes to worse I’d sell it for $1.”
However, despite all the ups and downs and the competition, the vendors are closer to each other than most people know.
“The market is an open space and you meet people from everywhere. “The vendors are one big family and the market is our home where we talk to each other about our problems and joke and laugh with each other.
“Some of us come from home already stressed out, but as we enter the market and see each other’s faces it helps lighten the load.
Thus, despite its hardships, its trials and tribulation, Juta gets ready for another day at the market as he hugs his mother in his mind and tells her, “Every little thing is going to be all right”.