The silent struggle of traders during heavy rains

For mama mboga sellers, sugarcane vendors and boda boda riders, the rain is not just weather  it is a wrecking ball.

When the rain starts over Nairobi, Damaris Mwendwa doesn't look at the clouds. She looks at her stall. Then she looks at the rising water. Then she does the math she has done a hundred times before.

"Once the water enters, everything is finished," she says, "Tomatoes float away. Spinach turns into soup. Customers see the flood and walk to the other side of the road. That day is gone," she says.

Damaris is 38 years old and has sold vegetables for five years. Every morning, she spreads her produce on a wooden table by the roadside , onions, potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes and greens. On a good day, she makes Sh800 to Sh1,000 in profit. On a rainy day, she makes nothing.

"The rain floods our stalls completely. I cannot display anything. The vegetables rot within hours. And buyers? They see muddy, flooded streets and they turn back. Nobody wants to step in that water. So my sales go to zero," she says.

Across Nairobi, thousands of small business owners like Damaris are counting the cost of a rainy season. For workers who earn daily, the rain does not just wet their clothes. It empties their pockets.

Damaris wakes up at 4 am every day to buy vegetables from the market. By 9 am, her stall is set up and ready. But when it rains, all that effort disappears.

"The moment the rain starts, water flows straight into my stall," she says. "There is no drainage here,The ground becomes mud. My table sinks. My vegetables may even fall into the water. Even the ones that stay on the table get soaked and start rotting."

She estimates a loss of almost Sh2,000 and above for the produce she bought.

"Less produce sold means less money for daily household needs," she explains. "No money for milk. No money for flour. No money for fare for my children to go to school. I have to borrow from friends just to put something on the table. You can only pray that the sun returns before your vegetables turn black."

Moses sells sugarcane at a busy junction in Babadogo. His setup is simple  a machete, a plastic stool, a wheelbarrow full of green cane and a small umbrella that barely covers him. On a normal day, he sells between 30 and 40 pieces at Sh50 each. That is Sh1,500 to Sh2,000. Enough to feed his family.When it rains, his business collapses.

 "The rain damages my whole setup," Moses says, ’’The sugarcane gets wet and slippery. My stool sinks into the mud. The umbrella flips inside out. And the roads become so flooded that I cannot even stand in one place. I have to pack everything and run for shelter."

 "People are less likely to buy when they are getting soaked or wet," he explains. "Nobody wants to hold a wet sugarcane in the rain. Nobody wants to stand and wait for me to peel it while water is pouring on their head. They just want to get home. Dry. Fast. So I sell nothing."

He says the rainy seasons have become harder to predict. And harder to survive. It rains when it wants. Sometimes he tries to sell to people stuck under bus shelters. But even they are counting their coins.

 Aron Mutai, a boda boda rider, knows rain from a different angle. For him, it is about passengers who simply disappear.

"When the sun is out, I make good money," Aron says, I do 15 to 20 trips a day. Sh500 to Sh700 profit. Enough to save a little. But when it rains? That number drops to three trips. Sometimes zero."

The problem, he explains, is that passengers avoid riding during storms.

"Nobody wants to sit on a wet motorcycle seat. Nobody wants rain hitting their face while they are dressed for work or church. So they choose other options like Bolt, Uber, matatu  anything with a roof."

He says the roads become flooded and cannot ride fast, cannot go to certain areas which means fewer trips.

 "The cold breeze while riding can give you a nasty cold. I have been sick twice this year just from riding in the rain. When I am sick, I cannot work at all. So I lose even more days."

He estimates that each heavy rain week costs him at least Sh2,000 in lost income. That is money he would have used for rent, food and savings. Aron says some passengers do call him during light rain, but they usually want to go very short distances. He has tried buying a bodaboda umbrella but it still does not protect him and his passengers from the rain.

The damage goes beyond spoiled vegetables, unsold sugarcane and empty motorcycle seats. When small business owners and daily earners lose income, they stop spending. The woman who buys milk every morning delays. Aron request is for the government to fix the drainage on our roads.

 As of this week, the Kenya Meteorological Department has warned of continued heavy rainfall in several parts of Nairobi. For Damaris, that means more sleepless and hungry nights.