Two weeks ago, i went out & filmed a plight of a one, Harriet, a primary school teacher, who, when schools closed & her savings got finished, she started selling mangoes. But the mango season is over, she then switched to roast & sell maize on the streets.

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Harriet, when she told her fellow street vendors, who most are school dropout or never went to school, that she is a teacher, they 'felt sorry for her' and are now helping her with street wisdom to 'run away' from City authorities when they come to arrest vendors

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Harriet, 27yrs, a single mother of 1, has rent arrears of 5+ months & told us she can't go back home because her home town is closed bcoz it's a border district. She is on her own. Most of her fellow teachers went back to the villages & she ran out of people helping her

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Harriet, started with a capital of 20.000/= ugx to start her maize business. however for a person who pays 6.000/= transport fee to and from home, that eats into her savings and earnings from the hustle-ful day. But she say she has nothing else to do or no one turn to.

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Harriet's biggest challenge doing her business is that city authority enforcers who keep her on her toes so that they don't confiscate her 'small business' or arrest her. I filmed her on her day 2 but half of it, she was in hiding from KCCA guys.

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Harriet's appeal to gov't is that they look into the plight of teachers and help them make ends meet. She asks fo gov't bail out for schools so that she & other teachers could at least get some money to help them strategize better.
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Harriet say, what she has learnt from this covid era is that she can teach but as well have a side source of income that she can run on weekends or days she is off duty from teaching. She urges fellow teachers to do the same even when schools get opened again.

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Be sure to catch her short tearful story on all BBC channels starting tomorrow.

What hurt me personally is that, here is a teacher who struggled thru school and here she is with school drop out and they're "teaching" her street wisdom to help her get small coins for food.

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I have filmed several people who have been hurt by the shut down of businesses & seen many try really hard to make ends meet. I have filmed another teacher who has more than 5 kids who wake up to ask him things he used to bring from work (bread, milk etc) but now he can't.

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There are several teachers out there who have 'switched' careers & moved to selling on the streets or in markets. The 'lucky' teachers i have filmed are those who already had a SACCO and they diverted their savings into making paver bricks & it is working out for them well.

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This year, since April, i have filmed 'sad' tales. From people killed in lockdown by LDUs & Police, to starving mothers, children & struggling families. I have been touched, inspired & moved. But then, i have family members who too ain't well. Everyday i get that phone call.

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That call of Allan help me out with a ka 50K or less just fir them to have a meal. Indeed this Covid era has pushed us all to the limit and got us being creative.
But i know we will get out of it well. Let's keep humanity alive.

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