By HARBGUY MWAMBAZI –

•CLEOPATRA Chilambe (left) at her stand on Lumumba Road in Lusaka. Picture by HARBGUY MWAMBAZI

“I SOLD a set of table clothes just to raise my capital,” Lusaka-based trader Cleopatra Chilambe revealed.
Many doubt the ability of women to make an impact in society.
But in reality, a lot of women endeavor to use their means to sustain not only their own livelihoods but also of those around them.
Ms Chilambe, a hardworking mother, is one of the many women who strive to sustain their families from selling on the streets.
Born in 1976 in Kabwe, Ms Chilambe grew up in a family where her parents worked hard to provide for her.
She pursued her secondary school education at Kalonga but dropped out of school in Grade Nine.
She stayed with her relatives in Ndola where she ventured into various businesses to keep herself busy.
“After I did my schooling up to Grade Nine, I did not have support and could not continue.
At that time I was 19 years old and didn’t have anything to do as I was mostly at home, so I travelled to Ndola to stay with my relatives for a while. While there I was forced to start different businesses which included selling eggs, cooked maize, and groundnuts,” she said.
After a couple of years, she used the little resources she had to travel back to Kabwe and this time she was thinking of marriage.
She got married to Clint Sakala who supported her in everything she ventured in.
Her husband had no formal job. He relied on income from the odd jobs he fought hard to get in order to sustain Ms Chilambe and himself.
Her husband’s joblessness encouraged Ms Chilambe to make herself more useful at home.
Her previous involvement in trading helped her to strategise and plan for a business she could venture in as a trader.
The biggest problem she faced in starting  business was lack of capital.
In 2005, she decided to sell her table clothes in her house to raise capital. “I thought about it for a while and I spoke to my husband. I decided to sell my set of table clothes from which I raised K30, which was K30,000 (old currency) at that time.
“Each set consisted of 11 table clothes which was good as it gave me extra money,” she said.
With that capital, Ms Chilambe was able to buy tomatoes, green paper, onions, and okra to start her business as a trader on the streets.
She was determined to forge ahead but with street vending being illegal, she had to find a way of dealing with authorities who always removed unregistered traders from the streets.
“Every trader that time (2005) was very determined to go about their business, but we had a problem because we wanted to sell close to the roads but the council, together with the police, used to force us out of these places. They would tell us that we were making the place dirty.
“They always shouted at us and told us to go back to the markets. They even threatened to beat us up,” she said.
But in spite of the harsh treatment that traders like Ms Chilambe faced at the hands of council authorities, it did not stop them from carrying on with their trading.
Ms Chilambe said income from her vegetable sales has helped sustain her family, especially the children.
Ms Chilambe sells her vegetables from a stand which is located on Lumumba Road in Lusaka.
Ms Chilambe wakes up very early in the morning to go buy various vegetables in readiness for business.
She has been selling vegetables for the past 11 years. The business has enabled her to raise her four children. She also looks after a dependent whom she has adopted. She manages to send all the children to school.
“Our marriage has given us four children and we have one dependent who completed his Grade 12 last year at Kamwala High School, ” she said.
Ms Chilambe dreams of getting all her children to finish school before she grows too old to manage her vegetable business.
She regretted that her time to go to school has passed, but her children will succeed and be able to look after her when she grows old.
“When all my children finish their school, then I will be happy because then I will know that my goal has been attained.
“I know that my chance of going back to school has passed, but my children will go further than I did and they will even look after me when I grow old.
“I trust in education and I think that it is a good way to go for my children,” she said.
She advised women in Zambia to always work hard and believe in God to attain success in everything they do. She said hard work has worked for her.
“Fellow women in Zambia should always work hard and don’t give up on whatever you are doing because that will determine whether you will succeed in your activities.
“When you believe in God, you should also back your belief with hard work at all times and when women do that, then they can sustain themselves each day,” she said.