By Buziwe Nocuze
- The woman does hair from a back room at home in Cape Town and charges different amounts for different hairstyles.
- Her mother stopped working in June 2024 after falling sick with headaches and seizures, including falling at her employer’s house.
A 25-year-old woman from Cape Town is supporting her family by doing people’s hair from home.
“I am working from home, using a back room, I wanted to go work at the taxi rank but I couldn’t afford rent and I won’t have money for transport,” she said.
She charges different amounts depending on the hairstyle.
Her mother stopped working in June 2024.
“My mother has been taking care of us, working as a domestic worker until she fell sick, she started experiencing headaches and while we were still trying to figure the what was causing it, she had seizure and she once fell on the ground while she was working at her employer’s house,” she said.
“She had to stop working because we feared that she might fall on top of the stove while cooking and get hurt or worse. I had to step in and take care of her and my two siblings.”
She now supports her mother and two siblings.
“Taking care of my family is not easy. Before, I stopped when feeling tired, but now I cannot do that. I work even if my feet are sore and my hands are tired because there are people who are depending on me.”
In December she was sleeping after 23:00 and waking up at 05:00.
“I am happy that my family doesn’t go to bed hungry and I was able to buy my siblings’ uniforms using more than R1000. I also bought food for them and working hard means that my mom won’t have stress about food as I am taking care of that.”
Pictured above: A woman doing hair.
Image source: Pexels
