IT’S the time of the year when the mango season hits the country.
Over the past days and weeks the Honiara Central Market has been flooded with sweet mangoes and you will be amazed by the varieties and sizes of the juicy fruits that are now selling like hot cakes.
The price ranges from $1 to $15.00 depending of the varieties and sizes.
And many Honiara residents and customers are taking advantage of the reasonable price to buy bulk and enjoy some juicy mangoes at home or at work.
Many also peeled off the skins to blend these mangoes as juice to drink.
Every customers are excited so as the sellers because they (sellers) are able to earn an extra income.
Most of these mangoes comes from Guadalcanal and Central Provinces.
At the market a lot of women are selling mangoes each day to earn some cash.
Early this week during my daily visit to the market, I spotted a lady.
She was different because of her skin colour.
After inquiring she introduced herself as Ela Qilabako originally from Choiseul province.
She is one of the mango sellers who continues to frequent the main market to sell mangoes.
She is married to a man from Visale, North West Guadalcanal and had since settled there.
Visale is one of the hot spots for sweet mangoes where mango trees are growing everywhere along the coast.
If you are driving down that region, mangoes are being sold at the roadside at cheaper prices.
So how come, she ended up in Visale from her province?
In 2007, she met the love of her life when he travelled to North Choiseul to work with a logging company called – Omex. He was contracted by this logging company.
Ms Qilabako is from Qoloe village and managed to meet up with his husband.
After their coming in contact with each other, they decided to get married and eventually relocate to Guadalcanal.
For more nearly 17 years, she lived and called Visale her home.
Together they have four children. Three of them are now attending primary school while the eldest is in secondary.
“I have never visited by home village since I left,” she said with a smile.
But its obvious why she loved Guadalcanal. Because access to market and other services is better than back at her home province.
For many years, apart from selling other market produce, selling mangoes had been one of her main income earners.
“For years, when the mango season arrives I normally come to the market to sell mangoes to support my family,” she said.
Money earned from the mango sales or other market produce she was able to meet her family’s basic needs such as, food, transport, clothing, health and children’s education.
She said, selling mango is a fast way to earn an extra income because of its demand.
She was asked how she finds life in Guadalcanal compared to her home province of Choiseul, she said, “earning an income is tough back in Choiseul due to its isolation, unreliable transport and limited access to market.
“Here in Guadalcanal, access to the main market is much easier because its closer to the market,” she said.
From Visale to Honiara she only had to board a three-tonne pick-up with all her produce and travel to the main market to sell her produce at the market.
Sometimes she sells her produce and mangoes at Visale.
She said, as long as the mango season remains until the end of year, she will continue to sell mangoes and save some money to prepare next year’s academic year.
She is thankful to her husband and children for supporting her.
Ms Qilabako added, the rising cost of goods and service in the country is one of the challenges many rural women are facing and like other women, she has to work extra hard to find means to earn an income.
By MOFFAT MAMU
