The COVID-19 has crippled world economies, and observers say the pandemic has contributed to the hardship facing South Sudan, with low income families being the most affected.
Women and children are said to have been hit the hardest. But the pandemic catastrophe has not stopped Rose Peter Mortel, a resident of Hai Tarawa in Juba from providing meals to her family.
The young woman lost her husband in 2013, and since then, she has been through a difficult situation.
“I am the only one taking care of these children. I am making paste and selling food items for daily income,” she said on Monday.
The 48-year-old mother of five wakes up every morning to sell onions, tomatoes, and other basic items to make the ends meet.
Fortunately, Rose received 282,500 pounds in grants from the Lutheran World Federation, a global religious charity, on Monday.
She is part of a group of vulnerable women who lost their businesses to Covid-19-induced economic problems in the last two years.
However, with the little grant from the charity, they are set to revive their economic incomes, and rose said her new business will help cater for school fees, medical bills and other family needs.
“There are a lot of things that I can do but I think the best one is a restaurant.”
“I chose to establish a restaurant because the restaurant, at last, can bring a lot of money than selling paste.”
Early this week, the Lutheran World Federation, in partnership with Bread for the World organization, disbursed 45 million South Sudanese pounds to 160 female heads of households in Juba, Bor, and Torit.
The beneficiaries received an equivalent of $460 to enable them to start the business and improve their daily income.
According to Lutheran World Federation, the support will help the selected beneficiaries who lost their capital during the coronavirus lock-down to revive their businesses.
Another recipient is Mary Martin Agun Akech, a mother of seven.
Mary, also a widow, explains how she struggled to feed her family after losing her husband under a mysterious circumstance seven years ago.
“Before I got this money, my life was miserable, sometimes I and my children would stay for five days without food,” she told Eye Radio.
“Since they have given me something like this now, I will not leave it to collapse. I am going to start making juice because the tea business sometimes is not all that fine.”
“So, I will be making juice and other items like tomatoes, charcoal, and even onions. I will do everything possible to ensure that my capital grows,” said Mary further.
The story is similar for 50-year-old Olivia Jacob, a mother of six, who lost her livelihood during the successive lock-downs.
The resident of Hai Seminary says she used to make local bread and was earning between 1,000 to 2000 pounds in a day.
But as the people stayed home to break the cycle virus transmission, Mrs. Jacob lost the capital and was unable to provide for her family’s regular needs.
After receiving the grant from Lutheran World Federation, the elderly woman hopes to start a new business beside her homestead.
“I am soon going to start a business with things like onion, tomatoes, beans, and fish,” she said.
“I will use this money to buy all the necessary items and place them on the table in front of my gate and sell it. Because if I say I want to go and sell in the market, I may not be able to meet the requirements.”
According to the African Development Bank, South Sudan’s Gross Domestic Product contracted by 6.0% in 2020/21, up from 13.2% in 2019/20, owing to floods, locust invasions, and the COVID-19.
In 2022, an estimated 8.9 million people, more than two-thirds of South Sudan’s population are in need of humanitarian assistance, UN agencies say.
The 2018 peace deal obligates the unity government to establish a fund for the provision of subsidized credit for women-based enterprise development and capacity building of women entrepreneurs.
It also stipulates that the government shall identify local, national and private sector associations with the view to improving their productivity or efficiency through capacity enhancement and easing access to financing.
The agreement further says the unity government should develop Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises among rural populations and the urban poor.
Emmanuel Clement Aremete, the Chairperson for Gudele Block 5 Quarter Council said the residents in his locality have gone through economic hardships.
“Their situation is not good really. You can see them like this but if you go to their houses, some people can go without water, even buying water is a problem,” he said in an interview with Eye Radio.
Clement added that single mothers and guardians resorts to petty businesses, with others sometimes skipping meals due to the high cost of living.
“There are some of them who started to make this Laundry to support them and some start to sell tea to get money.”
In similar situation, a regional research institute recently said women in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Uganda are experiencing disadvantages and gender inequalities in labor and production.
The Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment working in East and Southern Africa added that although there is a supportive political environment for women’s empowerment in these countries, implementation is still weak.
The Think-Tank recommended that countries in East and Southern Africa should encourage innovation among aspiring female entrepreneurs.
For her part, Stella Godfrey, a women representative at Munuki Block B Quarter Council welcomes the initiative to support vulnerable women in the country.
She asserted that empowering low-income women is critical in the society.
“What the Lutheran World Federation have done should really be appreciated, because it is going to empower these widows and they are going to put food on the table and also be able to send their children to school.”
“This is the kind of support we want for our vulnerable women in the country. So I encourage them [LWF] to continue with this kind of support to women across the country not only those here in Munuki.”
In May this year, the agency trained the selected beneficiaries on basic business skills including record keeping and how to identify business opportunities.
The women also expressed their commitment to ensuring that the money received is used for business purposes in order to sustain their households.
Lino Akoon, the Lutheran World Federation’s Project Coordinator for the Covid-19 response operation in the country said the support will empower female heads of households.
“It is our great hope that with this little support, they will start up a small business some of them of course was having a business but due to Covid-19-related problems,” he said.
“They run out of capital and they were not in the business again. So, some of them will restart their businesses and others are going to start fresh.”
It is the second time the charity has supported women from disadvantaged families in rural and urban parts of the country.
Last year, it distributed a similar amount to 240 female heads of households in Juba, Wau, Malakal, Bor, and Torit.
Akoon added that Lutheran World Federation will continue to offer all the necessary support to ensure the beneficiaries venture into the business of their choices.
“We will make necessary follow-ups and find out if they still need technical support to start up the business.”
“We will also be coaching them and we will document the outcome of the project itself whether there is change as a result of our intervention and what might require correction.”
Small businesses in Juba and other parts of the country do not only have to battle the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They are also threatened by the urbanization of Juba and other towns, which sees them evicted from their business points.
In September last year, a group of business persons in Central Equatoria State called on the authorities of Juba City Council to protect and promote small-scale business.
However, speaking to Eye Radio this week, the head of Gudele Block 5 Quarter Council Emmanuel Clement promised to protect the small business with low capital.
Clement added that it is part of their mandate to ensure that retailers of such capacity are empowered.
“Small business must be encouraged, but the Juba council can ask them if when you sell tea, you must have a health card and if you have a small restaurant you have to maintain this health card.”
“But there are no taxes for them. If you want to build a long team plan with LWF so that we continue supporting this woman.”
