There is nothing like a bad job, airtime street vendor says

WHEN YOU move around Kigali City suburbs you find many people busy doing business. The Sunday Times’ Triphomus Muyagu moved around one of the city suburbs in Kigali and talked to Peter Alimasi, a resident of Remera Sector in Gasabo District who sells airtime cards on the street. The 23-year-old who hawks all kinds of airtime cards found in Rwanda, from MTN cards, Tigo, to Airtel, abandoned his former job as a houseboy after he had accumulated savings from his Rwf 10,000 monthly salary. “I started saving slowly by slowly until I got Rwf 25000. Then I started selling airtime cards while still working as a houseboy where I wasn’t satisfied with my salary,” he said. “I now have a capital of Rwf 90,000 and I no longer work as a houseboy.” While many people run to save their money with a bank, Alimasi prefers saving his cash with mobile banking because he believes saving it with a bank would not be as swift. The young man who only remains with one parent, his father, can now afford to pay his own rent in a modest place which he refers to as his ‘guetto’. He also like that he can pay his own health insurance and food. “I am not a beggar, I can use the little I have to get what I don’t have,” he said. Never despise any jobs Even if Alimasi’s job requires running around and he sometimes receives insults from his clients and loses money when there are network problems, he doesn’t curse his job. “I am okay with my work and am comfortable with my job,” he said. He would like to set up a big shop to sell all kinds of phones in Kigali City after accumulating some money. That is his dream, he said. And he advises the youth to never despise any jobs because, he says, “any job can make one’s life better and he or she can survive without starving.”