PEOPLE: Bibi content with life

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Vendor Nisar Bibi at the Laqere Market. Picture: SOPHIE RALULU/FT FILE

Sitting pertinently with her ware inside the Laqere Market smiling at passersbys, Nisar Bibi shows people that she is content with life no matter the circumstances.

Ms Bibi is one of the first few market vendors at the Laqere Market to book a vendor’s table at the newly built market — a treasured moment for the vendor.

Even after many years of selling vegetables in Ba and later in Suva, this is the first time Ms Bibi has acquired a table — something she is happy to have attained on her own.

Having being separated from her husband, Ms Bibi has lived a life of an independent woman, selling vegetables and tailored items to support herself financially.

She said she was happy to finally have her own table at the market and she didn’t have to share it with a friend like she did before.

“I’m grateful to my friend for assisting me in a time when I needed it the most,” she said.

“As news of a new market being opened was announced I was happy because I wanted to have my own table there.

“Some might think owning a table at the market is nothing, but for us vendors it is a treasured moment because its where we will invest our time to earn a living for ourselves.”

She said she has been living in Narere for the past four years and had been a vendor at the Suva market.

“It was hard for me to sell at the Suva market because expenses were high and travelling daily is costly.

“Now I travel for a very short distance from home to the market daily.”

She said her three children were married, so living independently was something she had quickly adjusted too after being separated from her husband.

“It wasn’t easy having to leave Ba, but I had to try and stand on my own two feet and selling vegetable was something I had done well in the past so I rededicated my time to it again,” she said.

“I’m content with what I have and what I earn every day. This opportunity has allowed me to grow as a person too.

“Before obtaining a table in the new market I would sell in front of my home and sell items that I’ve sewn. It wasn’t much, but it helped sustain me.”

She said it’s important for women to have their own source of livelihood so they could provide for themselves when the going gets tough.

Like many vendors in the new market, she remains optimistic about the endless opportunities the market would bring them especially in supplying goods to a big Nasinu community.

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