I Get My Food Stall Back
Andi Sahria, 42, has opened a food stall in Watusampu village, Donggala, Central Sulawesi for a long time. The mother of four with her husband sold dishes in ‘Angkringan Watzhu’ food stall to fulfill the family’s daily needs.
“The location is strategic because it is close the port. At that time, I got a lot of customers. Most of them worked in companies around the port,” she said.
Unfortunately, the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit on September 28, 2018 destroyed the family’s food stall. They lost their source of income because the building and cooking utensils were damaged.
“I was affected by the earthquake. The storefronts, cooking utensils, plates were broken and crushed. Even though we were badly affected but we wished to get up soon. We did not want to suffer more and be pitied although we had financial and capital trouble at that time,” Andi continued.
Andi and her husband worked odd jobs after the earthquake. Until finally in 2019, Andi submitted a proposal to WVI to reopen its business. This proposal was part of WVI's assistance through the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) program, which is fully supported by Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH). Andi's proposal was accepted. She received an incentive of Rp 4 million as the capital to reopen her food stall.
Andi’s hardwork pays off. With the capital they gained, the husband and wife opened a food stall again
“Thank God. Now we can repurchase the plates, stools and cooking utensils. Now we have reopened our food stall. At first, we could only sell eight kind of dishes but today we have many dishes to serve including coto (Makassar soup) and rawon (East Javanese soup),” told Andi.
Some of companies around the port even now order daily catering from Andi’s food stall for their workers. Even, the Indonesian Navy based in Watusampu also orders the daily catering from Andi’s food stall from Monday to Friday. Andi is very grateful with the progress of her business since it benefits her family especially her children.
“I am very thankful for the help. Now, I can finance my children’s school including giving them pocket money and buying them books and school uniform. Thank God. Thank you WVI and ADH,” she closed happily.
The SME assistance program is one of the livelihood recovery programs post-earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi that occurred in 2018. In total, 320 small and medium entrepreneurs in Tipo Village, Watusampu Village, Bangga Village, and Lero Tatari Village have received this assistance.
Written by Rena Tanjung, Communications Officer, Wahana Visi Indonesia
