91 Business Women

Struggle to stay alive pushes women to 'unacceptable' trade

By ADOW JUBAT

Twenty women in Mandera have chosen to do a job that is considered an abomination in the Somali community.

They brave the scorching sun to walk for several kilometres to collect tripe and other animal organs disposed of at butcheries.

The women make ends meet through selling tripe (matumbo), which has become their only source of livelihood after drought swept away their livestock. But this business has cost them their friends as they face discrimination from the local community who consider their trade unacceptable.

The women aged between 65 and 80 embarked on the business after discovering an opportunity to fend for their families following years of begging for food.

Unlike their counterparts who have resorted to begging on the streets, the group is able to fend for their families despite wading into unacceptable territory.

"These women have defied culture and tried their luck in selling animal intestines, which are usually thrown away after animals are slaughtered," said local leader Osman Abdi.

Mrs Suban Adan, 60, who is the oldest in the trade after joining 20 years ago, said she suffers unbearable discrimination from her community for doing a ‘dirty job’. A visit by The Standard to Mandera’s only slaughterhouse found the women deep inside the facility cleaning tripe.

Social status

Before the 1991 drought hit the area, Adan’s family owned hundreds of livestock and were respected in the entire Mandera County.

"We were the most respected family in the entire Elwak town at the time before drought claimed our livestock and reduced us to paupers. My husband was consulted for everything before drought came and dispossessed us of our pride. As family we were highly affected socially, economically and mentally. In less than a month we were reduced to beggars," she remembers with nostalgia.

Adan said her husband was most affected after he lost social status and died due to trauma in less than three months after the devastating drought. She was left to single handedly take care of their 12 children.

"Before we lost our animals villagers came to our home in droves bringing their problems. I used to serve tea and milk to every visitor who stepped on our compound. But when our animals were no longer there to parade our pride, the number of people coming to our home consequently declined and my husband was no longer involved in any community issue. In less than two weeks of losing his animals he was traumatised," she said.

Reflection – Different - The Beginner Businesswoman

As I think about this past week, I realize that I’m a different person than I used to be.  I think I’m more confident, and I just feel better about myself.  However, I do go back to those inferior feeling sometimes.  For instance, at the very beginning of the Greensburg Women in Business Conference I felt so inferior to all of the other women there.  They just seemed like they belonged there, and they really knew what they were doing.  But as the day went on, I began to feel more comfortable.  I doubt my business capabilities so much, but in one of the break out sessions I was one of a handful of women who was doing a blog, had a fb page, and had a Linkedin and Twitter account.  That really boosted my confidence.

I’m also starting to face difficult situations head on.  I had a really difficult situation today.  I know I had mentioned in the past that I was on a playground committee for our county park.  My job on this committee was to make presentations to organizations, asking to donate to our cause.  Here is where it gets tricky.  Without any of the details, because they don’t really matter at this point, we are no longer a committee.  However, my reputation is at stake because I’m the one who spoke to various organizations and asked them to donate.  I had talked to the officers of the organization that made the largest donation of anyone.  The HOBO group, a wonderful fundraising group that focuses on raising funds for things that benefit children, donated a whole swingset.  They have been having cookouts, a golf outing, poker runs (They’re having one this Saturday, August 6th!), and a dance in November – all to raise the money for this equipment.  I received a phone call from the president, asking me to speak to the whole group today about what was going on.  They wanted to make sure the money was going to what it was supposed to.  I was almost sick to my stomach, because I felt like I failed them.  I went and was honest with them.  The biggest issue is that we weren’t able to buy the playground equipment we wanted.  We are getting a much smaller unit, plus the swings they are generously donating.  It ended very positively, and I faced this situation head-on.  It’s like a big weight was lifted off of my shoulder.  So even though, we are not a committee, we are still seeing this through to the end.

I think, because of things like that, I’m a stronger person now.  I don’t get so frustrated when one door closes.  I just look for another one to open.  I speak up a little bit more.  I don’t think I’m argumentative or always right, but I throw out other ideas; something for others to think about.

International Handbook of Women and Small Business Entrepreneurship

Business horizons

The Water-cure journal

Australian national bibliography

The financing of small business, a comparative study of male and female business owners