Ms Thinamaano Nengovhela Nemakhavhani (39) does not believe that women should regard themselves as the weaker sex. She feels that, although hard labour is usually associated with men, women should work just as hard to empower themselves.
After years of being unemployed, Nemakhavhani came to realize that she did not need money to start her own business. All she needed was already provided by Mother Nature for free, and thus, using mud from the soil and dirty water, she started making mud bricks from her home at Malavuwe Ha-Matsika village, outside Thohoyandou.
Despite people laughing at her at first, she continued working tirelessly in the scorching sun every day and started selling her mud bricks. Bit by bit, with the little money she saved from the sales she made, she started buying other building material, and eventually built her own beautiful 12-room house from her own mud bricks. When people realised the potential of her mud bricks, Nemakhavhani started getting more and more orders – even from clients outside her village.
Although this trade has helped her to overcome poverty, she says it took a lot of hard work. "I dig the soil with a pick and hand hoe and mix the mud and water with my hands and legs. When the bricks have been made, I fetch wood from the mountain and make a fire. The bricks are then baked in the fire to make them stronger. Things became easier when the village leadership allocated a piece of land to me and fellow villagers to use for making our mud bricks, instead of doing it from our homes."
She said that, since her business started growing, she has managed to employ two permanent workers, as well as two casual workers to help when she has a lot of orders.
"It really is a dirty job, but it offers a clean income. This muddy soil is my treasure because it brings food to the table," she said.
Of course, business takes a dive at certain times, especially during the rainy season, but Nemakhavhani is prepared for that too. With her savings, she has also ventured into farming, and she presently has nine pigs. Besides this she sells children's junk food and even has an informal hair salon that she runs from her home.