Mauricette Sakamesso is a thirty-three year old Congolese woman who is a single mother with two children. As she had no job, she had to abandon her studies in the last year of junior high school and currently lives with her parents in the Mpissa neighbourhood in Brazzaville. Struck by the campaign raising awareness on jobs in waste treatment and valorisation – conducted as part of the Jagov project in June and July 2021, she decided to become a waste pre-collection operator (PCO), becoming the first ever woman in this profession.
Why did you choose to become a waste pre-collection operator?
I have two children who I have to look after alone. To cover their needs, I had been working as a domestic employee, but the pay didn’t cover my costs. Following the awareness-raising session organised by the GRET and Lipob* teams in Bacongo, I realised I could work at something else to earn money by myself every day.
*Association of waste pre-collection operators in Brazzaville, Lisanga Pona Bopeto Ya Brazzaville
What changes has this work made to your daily life?
After losing my job as a domestic worker, my parents had to look after my children and me. Since I started working as a PCO, I now have a daily income of 1,500 CFA francs (2 €). I only began my activity one month ago and I already have almost ten subscribers, each of whom pay me at least 2,500 CFA francs at the end of the month, which gives me a monthly turnover of up to 37,000 CFA francs (more than 55 €), whereas for the moment I only work eight hours a week. This means I can take care of my children and provide them with regular daily meals. At the end of the month, I can put money aside to buy my own equipment, such as a wheelbarrow.
Since I started this job, I am less and less financially dependent on my parents.
How do other people look at you when you are doing your job as a waste pre-collector? What are the challenges of your job?
There are two categories of people, those who make fun of me (especially young boys) and those who encourage me. For me, what matters is not what others think of me, it’s to achieve my financial independence to improve my living conditions and those of my children.
Today, increasing the number of customers I have is my main challenge for the months ahead. To do this I am organising myself to plan specific days to try and secure new customers. As I have not yet been able to acquire my own working equipment, I am currently using a wheelbarrow on loan. I want to invest in a wheelbarrow of my own as soon as possible to become fully independent.
