Single-mother, Sarah starts a fundraising campaign to boost her laundry business
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A South Sudanese single mother of two has started an online fundraising campaign to boost her laundry business.
Sarah Naumba, 28, sits under the roof of a three-roomed boys quarters’ building in the Suk Zande residence in Juba, where she washes clothes for a living. She has heaps of clothes piled up in front of her; some of them are soaking in three large basins.
Dressed in black pants and a grey t-shirt emblazoned with the words “I was social distancing before it was cool,” Nauma sits on a stool after moving it about three meters away to socially distance while talking about her job.
She says she started her laundry business a little over a year ago after she quit her job with Crown Hotel in Juba.
“After I worked for about six months, I realized that the payment I was getting was not enough because I have kids to take care of plus myself, so I had to save a little bit of money to start this business and that’s what I did.” Naumba says.
“After I saved some money, I had to live the job and start this business.”
The 28–year old single mother of two says she had to set up the business at home so she can take care of her children and save on the cost of renting a shop. She says her overhead cost was small so she could afford to buy important equipment like the basins she uses to wash clothes and a drum of water and soap. Naumba says it was tough in the beginning.
“When I started, I really never had many customers but I really tried to do a very good job so that they don’t get disappointed and go away for good and not come back and that has helped me a lot.”
“Since I started whoever came has never gone away; they always come back and that has really helped me a lot because they also pass the message to other people,” Naumba tells The Insider.
Naumba uses clean water, soap and other detergents to make sure the clothes come out clean. She also irons her customers’ clothes. For all these services, she charges just 75 South Sudanese pounds for each article of clothing.
Sarah Naumba works hard to earn her pay. Sometimes she wakes up as early as 4 am and works until 9 pm to meet the demand. Although she’s happy she has new customers, Naumba says the work is demanding, and by the end of every day, she’s exhausted.
That’s why she asked a friend who lives abroad to open a GoFundMe account on her behalf so she can raise money from well-wishers to buy a washing machine.
She says her goal is to raise 650 dollars because she has some savings from her business to take care of the rest of the costs.
“The savings I have is $200 but the machine they are selling is 700 USD, so that’s why I opened this campaign. I really need this support.”
Naumba wants a laundry machine setup that can wash and dry clothes. That way she and her new employee, Jackline Simon can get some rest. Simon says the work will become much easier with a washer and dryer.
“Our customers bring bed sheets, jeans and even blankets. That was why when I started working all my muscles pained for a while but now it’s normal.” Simon reveals.
She says; “I hope my voice can reach people. If there’s someone who wants to donate three machines or a machine to wash jean clothes and blankets, that will be good.”
Sarah Naumba started a GoFundMe campaign earlier this week to raise enough money to buy a washing machine and a dryer to ease her work.
Naumba’s GoFundMe page called ‘Help single-mom Sarah kick-start her business!’ is being circulated on the social media platforms WhatsApp and Facebook.
“To everyone who’s going to donate is really much appreciated, and whatever you donate, you don’t have to donate big, whatever you give,” Naumba urged.
This story first aired on VOA, South Sudan In Focus on Wednesday February 24, 2021. Click Here to listen to the podcast.
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