Inside Doron Baga IDPs Camp Where Zarah is Making Fortune on Cap Knitting Business
By Muhammad M. Ali
HOTPEN – Zara Mustapha remembers how hard life was for her in the past few years living at Doron Baga IDPs Camp as a victim of terrorism activities in the North East, Nigeria. The 18-year-old girl reminisced how she lived a hopeless life, completely dependent on ‘hard-to-come-by donations.’
Narrating her ordeal Zarah Mustapha said “It was very hard for me and my younger ones to even eat food sometimes. We ran from one tent to another to benefit from what others would cook no matter how small it’s to stay alive”, explaining while crying, reminiscing how terrible things were for her.
According to her, life started smiling and their trepidation fades away after embarking on an entrepreneurial practice of knitting and selling caps.
She said “I pay attention to my neighbors when they knit caps”, ” but whenever I ask them to teach me, they would avoid me, they would say I will only waste their thread”.
“One adventurous day, I asked my mother to give me N1,000 which I used to put what I had observed to test. I ended up making one cap”. Zara explained as she relaxed on her mat knitting another cap. So far, she said she has sold over 19 caps – with another 2 which will soon be ready for sell.
“The knitting has been helping. Though my mother also weaves to help us, each time I sold my cap I would bring the money to her. And against the backdrop, I will be given something for my personal needs”, the girl explained.
Zara is an indigene of Konduga Local Government of Borno state. She has lived in the camp for almost five years with her parent, elder brother, and three of her younger sisters. Her father, 56, is now a mechanic, as he had lost his farming business to the Boko Haram crisis.
Zara further perfected her knitting skill after she attended a training program, along with 50 other young girls. The training, which started seven months ago, was organized by Street Child of Nigeria, a non-governmental organization in collaboration with the Borno State Agency for Mass Literacy, which certified the beneficiaries.
According to Zara, many of them were beneficiaries of the training, while a few others learned it from their senior ones.
But Zara took the initiative further, by doing a step-down training to her young sisters, which now appears to have given her family a business with which to support their livelihoods, with or without donations.
“I have taught all my sisters how to knit the cap, and they are doing well now”, said Zara, noting that they make at least five to six caps every month – with each one going for not less than N3, 000.
My Dream is to Become a Medical Doctor
Zara is a dropout, as is the case with many other IDPs. She finished her primary education but her attempt to complete the next level did remain to no avail.
She was forced to drop out after the school was transferred to its permanent site and lessons restored to usual morning hours.
Zara, who complements her business with an early morning volunteer work with International Organization for Migration, said: ‘It is going to be very difficult for me if I abandon my work for school.’
However, at the age of 18, she has not dashed out hope to actualize her dream of becoming a Medical Doctor. ” I have always wanted to be a medical doctor since when I was young and I will achieve that by God’s grace”, she added.
We are Being Exploited
Zara, along with many of the cap knitters in the camp, especially the young girls, has complained that buyers do not buy their caps with value, stressing that the act has continuously dampened their spirit.
‘I sold three of my caps at a giveaway price because I seriously needed money,’ said 16-year-old Hauwa Usman, another beneficiary of the training in the camp said.
She complained that people come into the camp to buy the caps in hundreds but will beat down the price to almost nothing compared to the difficulties involved in the process of knitting the caps.
‘If people will buy our caps at their true value, I think things will be better and I can also achieve my dream of going back to school,’ Zara said while appealing to buyers to stop looking down on their products.
The caps, which are usually worn with caftan as part of a centuries-old cultural trait, are wide-spread across Nigeria and beyond. From Borno, these caps are exported to as far as Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Niger, Sudan, and other parts of the world.
However, as with every other product, middlemen have remained a major bottleneck.
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari accused Nigerian middlemen of being responsible for high prices of foodstuff, while directing the ministry of agriculture and rural development to rehabilitate the national food reserve agency to address the continued rise in food prices.
In Borno, there is also an initiative by private firms geared toward improving value exchange.
One of these initiatives is Borno Tech Forum – aimed at identifying technology enthusiasts to further better their skills and to connect them with the market directly.
Engr. Abubakar Gambo, one of the founding officials who oversee the day-to-day running of the initiative, when asked how their initiative can help the situation of Zara said an e-commerce platform that can help not only her but many other entrepreneurs in the region is being developed.
‘Since 2016 when Borno Tech Forum was established, our focus has been on nurturing technology enthusiasts. In 2020, we trained over a hundred in our master class program. We are now planning an exhibition to showcase various skills and ideas of the participants. And after that, we will develop an e-commerce platform. And Zara’s problem can also be solved with the platform,’ Engr. Gambo said.
This story was supported by Journalists for Christ through World Association of Christian Communications (WACC) and Bread for the World – German Protestant Agency for Diaconia and Development.