By: Sainabou Sambou
One set of people who experience difficulties during the rainy season are vendors. They most often experience low sales, loss of perishable commodities and poor hygiene while making a living.
To know their current challenges, The Fatu Network has engaged vendors at Serekunda Sandika Market who are calling on authorities to come to their aid.
They narrated challenges which they say affect their health and livelihood, especially during the rainy season.
Amie, a vendor, said fish vendors dispose fish waste anyhow because of the lack of proper garbage collection and management system at the market
She further said that whenever they wash their fish they pour the water on the street, causing offensive smell everywhere.
Ebrima Njie, another vendor, narrated how the rainy season worsens their plights.
“When it is raining, we pack our goods and wait till it ceases. We don’t display or sell our them while waiting on the rains,“ he stated.
Njie mentioned that they don’t have proper place to sell or store their perishable goods to prevent them from spoiling.
Muhammed Njie reiterated that they usually record low sales as they don’t have proper places to showcase their goods during the rains.
“The space of the market is not enough. So, some of us don’t have place to sell our goods. We normally display our goods on the streets,“ he said.
“We are appealing to the government and local council authorities to help us with a spacious and decent market because this is where we earn our living,“ he requested.
