By Buziwe Nocuze
- Nomarodesia Nkomeni from Mantusini village sells chickens and food to support eleven of her close family members every single day.
- She spends thousands of rands each month on food and education but struggles when her customers do not pay her.
Nomarodesia Nkomeni lives in Mantusini village in Port St Johns. She works hard to feed eleven family members.
She looks after her own child, four siblings, and six children of her late sister.
Nkomeni runs small businesses to keep her family fed. She uses three different shacks. She sells chickens from one shack. She sews clothes in another. She uses the third shack to sell bread, chips, candles, matches and long life items.
She moved back to her village after she tried to run a business in town. She said it did not work out.
She buys clothes and school uniforms for the family only once a year in December to save money.
“I sat down with them and explained that I won’t be buying them clothes during the year,” she said.
Nkomeni pays R2,000 for groceries each month. She pays R500 for her child’s transport.
She also pays R1,000 for her sister’s child in Grade 12. She sends R4,000 to another sister’s child who is at university.
The university student gets money from the NSFAS fund, but it is often late. She said she has to help when the fund takes a long time to pay.
Nkomeni sells her chickens for R180 if people pay cash. She charges R200 if people buy on credit. Her sewing prices range between R550 and R1,500.
She said many people in the rural area do not have money and they take a long time to pay her back.
“There are people I have to beg to pay even though it is them who came to me but we soldier on because we need them,” she said.
She hopes to save enough money to open a big shop and a large sewing business one day.
Pictured above: Nomarodesia Nkomeni takes care of eleven family members.
Image source: Nomarodesia Nkomeni
