A poor yet jolly woman, the elderly Jira ran a small food stand in the Mos Espa marketplace. Among her wares were tasty fruits called pallies. Young Anakin Skywalker befriended Jira, and searched for a cooling unit that the old woman needed.
Since unprotected food doesn't last long on Tatooine, Jira depended on her worn-down old cooling unit for her livelihood. With its power couplings fused, the unit was useless scrap, but Anakin came to her rescue by finding a replacement device in Watto's junkyard.