Dili, January 7, 2025 (Média Democracia) – Using her right hand to do the work for more than five years because she wanted her children to go to school for a bright future. Anita uses her strength with her husband to do domestic activities in her hometown by transporting the produce to the market to earn money.
Anita Soares de Jesus is a 56 year old woman who is a farmer from Leubasa, Ermera. She has a husband named João de Deus who is 58 years old and also a farmer. They have 8 children who are studying at university and high school. And she suffered a disability in her left hand because she had an accident while picking coffee which resulted in his left hand being injured.
“My hand was injured because I was picking coffee and suddenly the coffee tree fell and shattered into pieces, then they took me to the hospital and the hospital said I had to go to Dili, my hand has been like this for four months and I can’t do anything with my left hand, even to comb my hair.” She said.
She said the truth was that she was only holding her hand but when she had an accident in serious condition she was immediately rushed to HNGV for treatment.
“I actually just held my hand, but I went to Dili in HNGV and I got better but not very well, then we thought about going to the people to use traditional medicine and they gave a message to my hand and it got better,” She added.
Anita had an accident in 2019, for five years Anita only used her right hand to do housework and in the fields, planting vegetables and nuts including other products, her left hand could not do any work because it had no strength.
She admitted that so far she has only used her right hand to grow vegetables and other because she wants her children to be able to go to school and she also does the house work.
“I can only use one hand to work because all my children are in school, when they ask for money and I have nothing to give because I just sit there, so I have to work in the fields and pick coffee to get money to give to them, and I also have to do housework if I don’t do it then when we are hungry what will we eat, for five years I have only used one hand to do any work.” She added
She also added that when she had the accident, she had great difficulty in carrying out activities, especially picking coffee, because she only had one hand, so she used her feet and hands to pick coffee.
“When picking coffee, I use my feet to step on the tree and my hands to pick it, and when I want to go home I also have to use my right hand to hold the iron, this is very difficult compared to my previous condition, especially when working in the fields and at home.” She said firmly.
When she wanted to fill up with water, she brought a 3-liter jerry can, two jerry cans were tied to her left hand and one jerry can she carried using her right hand, even though the distance from her house was far, she was forced to because her children were at school.
She explained that the products she produces such as taro and others are only for eating and the beans are for selling in the market and brought to Dili, and her husband is the one who brings them to Dili and sells them for $ 1.00.
“We don’t sell taro and the others, just for eating, the others we bring to Dili, we carry them on our heads and walk to Lauana, then we move to the car and these things we put in plastic bags and take them to Dili and we just walk, my husband sells in Dili for $1.00, but if we sell here a can of milk is 0.50 cents.” She explained.
She emphasized that the income from 25 sacks of peanuts sold in Dili could reach $75.00, compared to the income at Lauana and Letefoho Markets which was very small.
“We bring big sacks to sell in Dili and we can get $75.00, if we only sell here we only get $25.00 because we sell one can of milk for 0.50 cents, every year my husband collects it and brings to sell in Dili one can of milk for $1.00, it sells better than coffee, if we get a lot of sacks like 10 or 20 then it sells better than coffee, if the fruit is not good we only get $100.00 more but if it is good then we can get more than $500.00.” she added
In addition, during this time Anita and her husband supported each other in any work so that they could send their children to college and high school, they worked as farmers to plant crops in the fields including coffee, besides that after collecting all the crops her husband sold them at the market and took them to Dili to get money to support the family and pay for their children’s school.
Reported by : Estefánia
Picture by : Estefánia