Ndokoti Train Station : a bedroom for Market Women

The train station in Ndokoti is used by most buyam-sellams in the night as an auberge.

Most of the buyam-sellams especially those who do not come from around that area to sell are forced to spend the night around the area especially when they do not succeed to sell all the food stuff. In a chat with an official at the train station he said there is plenty of aggression in Ndokoti in the night such that these women seek for a secured place to pass the night. He said they need a place where the rest of their food stuff would be protected as well as the money they have made. According to the official, the train station which is also located in the market area is the most secured place for them because it is protected by the police at all times, and it would be difficult for the women to be attacked by thieves. Another reason he advanced, is that the women do not have money to pay for a night at an auberge. According to one of the buyam sellams, whose name CT got as Ernestine, the market women she said do not sleep at the train station because they lack a place to sleep. But according to her it is because the train does not have a specific time when it arrives at the station in Ndokoti and they have to wait for the other women who are coming with food stuff to sell to them who have to arrive by train. She said sometimes the train arrives by 3:00 am and they engage in a serious market at that hour in order to sell in the market later that morning.
EFFA TAMBENKONGHO