Watta’s story shows how female relatives are often forced to look after family members, even when times are hard and they lack the resources
Despite being born during the civil war, Watta Koroma was fortunate because she was able to enjoy her years in primary school, first in Saahun, Dama Chiefdom, and then in Kenema City.
However, her luck changed after junior secondary school when she became ill. Her partial paralysis meant she depended on her mother for everything.
They were forced to travel to get the right treatment. Eventually, Watta recovered and could come home.
She had only been back for a couple of months when her father died. “I wasn’t able to get anyone to support my education so I was left with no option but to drop out of school and I went to stay with my auntie to help her with her business,” she explained.
Aunt and niece worked together travelling and selling goods in Kenema City. During this time, Watta became pregnant.
“When my auntie noticed, I was sent away to live with the baby’s father. One year after giving birth, my fiancé passed away and his family asked me to marry his younger brother. But I disagreed with that and left the house to stay with my grandfather.”
After an unsuccessful new relationship, she went to live with her mother in Saahun. Her mother encouraged her to start a business and gave her LE300 capital to get started.
“I decided to return to Kenema City and start a life there. In the evening, while preparing to return, I met a family member who made charcoal and he loaned me five bags to sell. With the coal and the money given by my mother, I decided to challenge myself and started a small-scale investment. I used some of the money to buy bags for the charcoal to sell it in small quantities, and the remaining amount was used to buy groundnut to make kanya for sale.
“During this period I started selling and I walked around the community to sell. After a while, I was able to pay back all the loan of the coal and profit generated was added to the seed money given to me by my mother.”
Watta was keen to become more successful. Then she learned about the training offered by Prosper and decided to join. “Before the training, life was very challenging and difficult, during the training my mindset started changing.
“Every aspect of the training was good, but the one enjoyable aspect that has helped shape and bring changes to my life is the set up of the savings banks. Money saved in my savings bank is used to buy more goods for my business, some is used for food and medication, including for my mother.
“Before the training, I used to take goods from people to sell and then pay them back, but after going through the training I have an idea of how to manage my business with the little capital I have rather than go for a loan from any MIF (micro-finance institution) or family members.”
Watta has been able to negotiate with her grandfather to rent some accommodation to provide her with the security and privacy she needs for her family. She has some savings and uses the skills she acquired through Prosper in all aspects of her life.
She said: “I can now say my confidence in running a business has greatly improved. My confidence in talking to customers has helped.
“Before the training, I felt sad and, in my mind, I felt hopeless and thought I would mean nothing in the world. Now, I have met many friends and gained knowledge from both the business skills and savings bank training and I have motivated my friends to join our savings bank. My exposure and connection with other colleagues in the training is another value to me. Some have become my mentors and advisors and have helped shape my lifestyle.”
