For 65-year-old Satya Wati, market vending has been the only source of income she’s known since leaving her hometown of Labasa 35 years ago to come to Suva.
When enquiring at the Suva market office as to who is the longest-serving market vendor, we were immediately directed to Mrs Wati’s stall by a market official.
Mrs Wati and her late husband are originally from Vuniduidui, Labasa and have been selling vegetables at the Suva Municipal Market for about 35 years.
The market stall was inherited from her late father when he moved to the US to live with her sister and along with it came a house at Samabula where she and her family have been residing since moving to Suva.
Mrs Wati lost her husband in 2019. She now lives with her son and his family while her daughter resides in the US with her husband.
Mrs Wati’s son left his job about two years ago when he contracted heart disease and has stayed home since. Following that, whatever income she gets from selling vegetables has been the only source of income for the family. Mrs Wati initially inherited four stalls from her late father but is now only operating three.
She buys her vegetable produce from Sigatoka farmers every Monday and Friday when they come down from the West.
“I have to buy from the farmers because we cannot plant anything where we live in Samabula since it’s not a farmland,” Mrs Wati explained.
Every week she spends about $130 to $150 on her purchases, then sells them from her stalls.
The prices of her vegetables usually depend on the price she bought them for, along with the market price that other vendors are selling at.
Like any other businessperson, Mrs Wati said that the coronavirus outbreak had also had a great effect on her business.
She explained that when schools and businesses were closed off, she really suffered a lot as most of her customers had stayed home.
Now that schools are slowly reopening and businesses are going back to normal, sales at her stalls are starting to pick up again.
However, she added the prices of vegetables are a whole different story altogether.
“Before COVID, I used to buy a bag of eggplant for $30 or $40. Now the price has gone up to $70 and this is why I also have to increase the price of a heap so that I can make a profit.”
Aside from eggplant, Mrs Wati also sells bhindi, pumpkin, long bean, cucumber and other varieties of vegetables. The profit she makes daily has been a great help to her family.
She added that part of her house caught fire during Diwali last year, and she was able to have the house renovated and reconstructed with the money she had earned over the years from selling vegetables.
“This is the only source of money I know. Even though it has its ups and downs, selling vegetables has helped my family a lot. I have no real family aside from my market family and we help each other,” she explained.
As a word of advice, Mrs Wati stated that it is only by working hard that one is able to earn money.
“If you work hard, then you’ll have money. If you don’t put in the work, you will not have enough money.”
