Street Hustle Accra: A day in the life of an egg seller trying to make ends meet

The subject for today's 'Street Hustle Accra', a trader, Rebecca Eshun, 24, tells us about how she survives in life with her field of work.

Rebecca is a single mother with a son, she sells eggs to cater for both her son and herself.

Her life story is an inspiration:

Morning

People think cooking eggs isn't very difficult, so, it doesn't need much attention but that usually isn't the case.

I wake up at 4am, do some few chores and then set my fire to cook my eggs. I usually cook about least 5 crates of eggs a day.

Once the eggs are ready, I grind my pepper and then I package it nicely in the pan. At this point, my eggs are ready for sale and this should be by 6am.

After making my food ready, I wake my child up, and then prepare him for school.

By 7am, I should be done with both myself and my son, and then we set off.

I first take him to school and then go-ahead to any place close to me where there are traffic lights or even a bus station to sell my eggs.

The morning sales are massive so I don't miss it at all. I sell till around 11 am and when the market is a bit down, then I go to get some food to eat. This should at least cover breakfast and lunch. Then I continue to sell.

Afternoon

I sell throughout the day. The afternoon sales are quite low, people hardly buy egg during this time, so, one strategy use is, I trade around bars and food joints where people eat so that they can see me and buy some. So I trade like this throughout the afternoon till my eggs are finished. I have for some time established good relationship with food vendors, so, in situations where their eggs finish, they tend to me to give them some of mine, then I collect the money once they are done selling.

At about 3:30 to 4pm, whether my eggs are finished or not, I have to pick my son from school then head towards home.

When my eggs are finished then hurray, but when they are not, I give it out to a chop bar operator close to the house to sell them.

Evening

Because I wake up early, I try as much as possible to sleep early.

When I return from all my rounds, I prepare dinner for my son and me, we eat, take a shower and then I check if my son has some homework to do. I teach him the ones I am able to or I take him to a neighbour to teach him especially with the ones I am unable to teach him.

By 7:30pm, I should be done with all these and then stay indoors. I sometimes watch TV for some few minutes and then go to bed, at other times, I just go straight to bed.

Best moments

This job is convenient for me. I am able to cater for my son and myself.

I sell everything the very day, so, I don't worry about any sort of remaining eggs.

Also, I get some tips from customers and I make it a point to save them for my child.

Challenges

My main challenge is taking care of my son especially on Saturdays where he doesn’t attend school. I either leave him with neighbours or take him along. Either way, I have to cook fewer crates of eggs so that we can either return home early or I return home early to check on him.

I sure have big dreams and I don’t see this challenge holding me back.