For this Nairobi book vendor, Christmas is just another working day – VIDEO
This will be the third Christmas that a Nairobi based book vendor Ezekiel Ooga will spend in the streets, selling books.
He quit employment three years ago and ventured into the business of selling books in the streets of Nairobi.
“Unlike in the past where I would be paid by my employer and given days off to celebrate Christmas and New Year, now I am my own boss and will have to keep working as you never know, someone may want to buy a book to read over the holidays,” he says.
When he draws a comparison of the Christmases over the years, he says more and more people are opting to stay in the city over the holidays.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
“The number of clients has not changed much, a departure from the past where around this time we had less and less people in the streets,” says Ezekiel.
For him, time with family can be created any day and not necessarily over Christmas and New Year holidays.
“Nowadays I can even open my business the whole day then in the evening when I close I leave for muchatha (upcountry) then the next morning I still open my business at around mid-morning,” he says.
Ezekiel plans to visit his family after the holidays and hopes to cash in on the growing number of Nairobians staying in the city over the holidays.
