The independence of Minky

Minky was born Vuyiseka Nicole Poyo 33 years ago in South Africa’s semi-arid heart. From the age of 10 she wanted to become a social worker and she knew that when she finished high school she was going straight to Cape Town to get her social work qualifications. When she arrived here she didn’t have enough money so she got a job as a domestic worker. When I met her she was working as a beauty therapist, trained but un-‘certified’. Her story on how she was a cleaner, became a beauty therapist and still plans to be a social worker is, for me, inspirational.

Minky grew up with her grandmother and five other family members in a one-bedroom house. She lived with her grandmother because her mother was living and working as a domestic worker in Johannesburg. If it wasn’t for a social worker she wouldn’t have had school shoes or the occasional vegetable to go with her daily pap. Her grandfather was the sole breadwinner in a house of five adults and two kids, it was no small feat her grandparents put food on the table every day.

Her extended family couldn’t afford tertiary education for more than one child so when she matriculated she came to Cape Town and got the first job she could get her hands on; she followed her mother’s footsteps and became a domestic cleaner. She was an 18 year old live-in maid earning R400/month.

A year later she was in a better cleaning job at a beauty salon in Gardens. She spoke to her boss, who was running massage courses and said

M: I’d really like to take the massage course, but I have no money. I work for you though, so what do we do?

C: I have three people booked in the massage course and I’d really like four so that people can pair up for the course. If you agree to stay working at this saloon for 2 years you can do the course for free.

M: I’ll stay for 5.

Not only did Minky learn massage but in her evenings over the next year, after cleaning the saloon, she learnt all the other treatments offered at the salon. The owner taught her herself. Soon enough clients were regularly making appointments with her and her boss told Minky to find them a new cleaner. Within three years she could run the business. When her boss retired she told Minky that she should work for herself and she did, for three years until the ownership of the saloon changed hands.

I asked Minky what was the best part of her job. She said "I love everything I’m doing because it makes me meet different people. I see myself more than a beauty therapist, I see myself as a therapist and we talk about people problems."

Minky loves her job and she still has her sights set on fulfilling her dream of becoming a social worker. She has a son and she’s the only breadwinner in her family; her mum’s retired and her brother and sister aren’t working. So she’s saving up to get a portable massage bed and a car so she can offer mobile massages at B&Bs and retirement homes on her days off work. She’s going to find out where she can study social work and whether she can get a bursary. She’s going to be a social worker before she’s 44, hopefully in a small town in the Karoo.

Oh and one day, she’s going to open a beauty salon of her own. So someone else can break out of one cycle, and start another.