BY BARNABAS MANEBONA
“Stick to whatever you feel comfortable with when making money”.
These are the words of Koloale resident Margaret Atu, who despite obtaining numerous academic certificates that could have earned her a paid job, has decided to sell betel nuts for a living.
“There may be negative perspectives about betel nut selling and its effect on people’s health, but it also has its advantages and can be very supportive in many different ways,” Margaret said.
In this week’s issue of Solomons’ Women Newspaper, Margaret shares a bit about her background and her story of how selling betel nuts has contributed to sustaining her living and that of her family.
Born in 1980 at Binu clinic, Margaret Atu is from North Guadalcanal, Ghaubata District.
She is the sixth of eight children. Growing up in Ghaubata, Margaret attended primary school at Kaotave Primary School from the year 1989 to 1995. From 1996 to 1998, she attended forms 1 to 3 at Tangarare Secondary School.
By the time she completed form three, her education was interrupted by the so-called ethnic tension that forced Margret and many others to leave school and flee back to their home districts.
“During that period (1998 to 2001), we fled from our homes near the seaside and went to live in the bushes making roofs out of huge bush leaves.
“This was because the Guadalcanal militants had chased us from our homes.
“During that time we also managed to help old people flee with us by pushing them in wheel burrows.
“The curfew for us was at 6 pm, no one was allowed to leave his or her homes in the bushes.
“We ate only kumara, cassava, and banana burnt over the open fire because there was no access to food such as rice or tinned goods from shops.
“Other necessities like soap and kerosene for our lamps were not affordable. We only used oil palm fruits, dried coconut meat, and coconut leaves as our lights during the nights,” Margaret recalled.
Margaret also recalled that during those times, when they are hiding in the bushes, many women also gave birth to their babies.
“Luckily the people used radio wireless at Gorou clinic in North Guadalcanal to call Red Cross workers who attended to their calls,” she said.
After the ethnic tension eased off, a determined Margaret was sent to Kaotave Vocational School to train in basic skills.
After two years at Kaotave, she graduated with a certificate in Life Skills (Home Economics) before she took a short course ‘Introduction to Computing Skills’ for two months in 2004.
From late 2004 to 2005, she worked as a receptionist at the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA) clinic and eventually met her husband who was then working at ‘Save the Children’ in China Town.
In the year 2006, she moved in with her husband at their Koloale home.
She eventually quit her job as a receptionist and became a housewife. Then in 2010, Margaret was sponsored by the North Guadalcanal Association to attend business classes at MASE in Chinatown.
After 6 months, she graduated with a certificate in MYOB, Book-Keeping, and Customer Service.
After graduating in 2010, Margaret continued to live as a housewife but earns good profits from selling betel nuts just like many other housewives are doing to support their families.
“It does not matter how many graduate certificates, diplomas, or degrees you have, you can still receive the same amount of money earned in an office by just selling betel nut every day along the streets.
“To have formal employment is not the only way to earn money. There are many other ways such as selling betel nut,” Margaret said.
She is happily married to her husband for 11 years now.
“For the first eight years of our marriage I did not sell betel nuts as means to earn income because we were not properly settled in terms of a place to live,” she said.
It was not until 2014 that she started to see the potential of betel nut selling so she started to engage herself in the business of selling betel nuts.
“I usually spend $250.00 for betel nut, fruit leaf, and cigarettes and by the end of each sale, I usually receive around $300 profit.
At the end of each week, I usually collect $1800, which is enough to fulfill the purpose of why I started engaging in this business in the first place and that is to financially support household needs.
“Betel-nut selling also supports me in my membership at the South Pacific Banking Development (SPBD) for women. At the SPBD, we women are allowed to loan according to a certain procedure.
“Like for example, at the first step we are allowed to loan up to $3500 and by the time we change the amount of money loaned, we are allowed to loan for money again but this we are qualified to loan a bigger amount. We are usually given a time to repay our loan.
“When I received my loan, the profits from betel-nut selling also helps me in quickly repaying my loans before applying for a new loan.
“I am now waiting to receive my fourth loan early next month which is estimated to be around $9200,” she said.
From the money she loaned and the help from her husband, they managed to fully renovate one of their houses at Koloale, which is now put up for rent.
Margaret and her husband also built a small canteen at Koloale near the Solomon Power’s residential area.
Apart from their house renovations and building a canteen, Margaret and her husband also operate a fund for borrowing money.
Today a happy Margaret continues to support her family needs with her small business of selling betel-nut in the Koloale area.
