The smell of roasted corn drifts along the roadside before you even see her.
Beside a small fire, Katarina Ema moves with conviction, turning golden cobs in boiling water while watching passing vehicles along the Queen’s Highway.
Ema is from Vidawa in Bouma, Taveuni, but she is married into Vatukarasa Village in Nadroga.
Selling corn was never part of a grand plan. It grew out of a mother’s instinct to help.
She started the small roadside business to support her son, the family’s main breadwinner, who is raising two children of his own.
“My son takes care of all our village, community and church obligations. On top of that he looks after our family, including my husband and I, so I thought of doing something to earn cash daily and help pay for family expenses.”
“This is what drives me to work hard, my family, nothing else.”
Ema stopped selling corn last year but returned to the roadside just last month.
She buys raw corn from farmers along the Sigatoka Valley Road for about $70 a bag.
She left Wairiki Secondary School, on Taveuni, at Form 4.
“Being brought up in the village, life was simple,” she said.
I had no big dream, just to work hard and have a good family.”
Her days begin early with household chores before she lights her roadside fire around 9am.
When business is slow, she spends time finishing chores or goes fishing, a hobby she enjoyed growing up in Taveuni.
Boiled corn sells for $2 while roasted corn goes for $3.
“I am a bubbly person so I like meeting new people every day,” she said.
“You have to be smiley, vibrant and not shy to start up a conversation. You may have to be humorous as well so you can make people happy.”
“When I started to sell, I was a bit shy because people who knew me would see me selling by the village roadside. I was worried about what people would say about me.
“But after a few weeks of earning, I told myself I shouldn’t look down on myself because I was doing my part to help my family and I should be proud of that sacrifice.”
On good weeks, she earns more than $250.
She has a message for young people.
“Don’t stay idle. Make use of your talents and skills and earn money so you can support your family and village.
“It may be small but if you put your mind and heart into it, you can go a long way.
“Stay away from criminal activities because they won’t do you any good. You’ll only end up at the wrong side of the law.”
