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Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa
In Rosa’s hands, amidst the traffic on the streets of Maputo, shines a kettle tied with wires to a stove, an improvisation for the fiery red embers to overcome the cold of the winter mornings coming our way.
A kettle with coals hanging from it seems out of place in the traffic, but in the Mozambican capital this is the reality of making a livelihood, Rosa Carlos tells Lusa.
In the hustle and bustle of the Xiquelene market, she hurriedly sells tea and coffee to passers-by and to the vendors who set up their stalls, in one of the biggest sites of the informal economy in which most Mozambicans make a living.
“Door to door or stall to stall, distributing tea is my job. There are also those customers who are passing by and order tea or coffee: I serve those too,” explains the 32-year-old informal trader, sitting in the middle of the market a few metres from Praça dos Combatentes.
The business is simple and practical, but requires strict time-keeping. Every minute counts: Rosa has to navigate pools of water and precarious alleyways in one of the capital’s busiest markets to sell hot drinks before noon.
“In winter, without a doubt, there is greater demand. Customers want a cup of tea to warm up,” says Rosa, who has been in the business since 2017.
On average, Rosa sells 70 cups a day and prices range between 10 meticais (€0.14) for a simple tea to 25 meticais (€0.36) for a cup of coffee or tea with milk.
“I’ve had better times, when I really managed to get my daily bread from here. Today, things are more complicated with these crises […], products are more expensive. But even so, I can survive with my business and support my daughter,” Rosa says.
If, on the one hand, distribution requires speed, on the other, Rosa knows that care must be taken, given that the water she carries in the kettle is boiling hot, and tied to a stove containing hot coals.
Just one risk in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a market where no efforts are spared in the struggle for sustenance.
“I’m afraid, because one day this iron might give way and if I’m walking it might burn me. But life forces me on. Customers really like their tea hot so it has to be really boiling,” she says.
Inês Fernando is one of several customers who choose Rosa’s tea to start their day. “Her tea smells good and is always hot,” she says – which is why it’s her favourite.
But Rosa is not the only one in the business: not far from Xiquelene, in Xipamanine market, Herculano Nalito, 35, also sells tea and coffee to support his family.
Although he regrets the long distances he has to walk, he says that “one can make a living”.
“I walk 10 kilometres, almost every day […] But I manage to make enough money for my children’s sustenance and school,” Herculano says, as he opens the thermos to serve another customer.
Customers at the Xipamanine market are apparently less demanding and Herculano doesn’t need to bring a kettle.
The young man only takes a flask to keep the water hot and some cups in a basket that he carries under his arm as he criss-crosses the alleys of the market.
“I feel really good. I prefer to do this and not steal from anyone, creating problems that could end up putting me in jail. I prefer this business of mine,” he says, as it calls him on and to the next alley, where another customer wants one more cup of tea.
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