[Applause] my name is mariam and you’re here in my business that is called chakula tamu chakula tamu is a swahili word meaning good food we opened the store in 2009 we bring in food for the east african community but the food is basically from uganda the way i started this is when i
Migrated to canada i was here for six months i found it very very difficult to adapt to the food so i thought you know if i had food from home i think it will work better for me you know i pride myself in saying i bring a little bit of home to home
Because home is canada to us our staple in the central part of uganda is called matoke it’s a green banana it’s a very specific green banana and i tried other bananas that were available here then i wasn’t getting what i really wanted when you’re used to a particular type
That’s what you want to use like if i don’t have my token in the fridge like recently i had some at home and then my customer came and i had run out here of my okay here but my customer had an occasion and i said okay you know what you have
This occasion i’m going to give up mine so i i drove to my house and brought her my talking but you know if i don’t have my toke i don’t feel good that’s my favorite first we started with with that matoke the green banana and people got interested and slowly
People said hey can we have this and can we have that and can we have the other and then we open the store and we’ve been operating even during these difficult times of covered we’ve managed to stay open because people rely on us for their food
It’s actually turned out to be a very satisfying business because people are actually grateful they are grateful that they have access to to their food especially during covered i’m coming here to see how the store is from if they have like food for my country
So i’m so happy today because i get my my food from my country so i used to drink it back home and it’s exciting that it’s here and i haven’t had in a long time so it’s very exciting i’m new here in canada i just have
Like one year yeah so i was i was listening to you every day oh we’re gonna go in toronto to buy some food from my country so today i’m so happy thank you so much yeah maybe when i will come back myself don’t forget me yeah yeah my name
Your is yeah jesus okay thank you thank you nice to meet you as new people to canada like we rely very much on each other do you know how to do this do you know where i can go for this so it’s more than just buying food i strongly believe
That business must have spirit it’s about humanity it’s about human beings and i i think that when when when people feel that authenticity they keep coming even when they may get the product from elsewhere they tell me we keep coming back because we feel at home
I have seen a lot of businesses close because of construction i have seen a lot of businesses close on eglinton because of coving so i’m grateful that i am still open and and thankful for my customers that that keep coming
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