Uncategorized
VICKY ABRAHAM
A FORMER domestic worker and a street hawker from Roodepoort, Johannesburg, is a living testimony that nothing is impossible in life.
Mrs Victoria Bomouan, 41, who is now an owner of a crèche, pre and primary school, spent four years as a domestic worker smelling, tasting and touching wealth in her employers’ estates where she was cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing clothes, and taking care of children.
But come holiday times, she went back to a one-bedroom mud-house in Ganyesa rural area in the North West province, which is owned by her 96-year-old grandmother, Mrs Otlagomodiwaeng Molapong.
She shared the one-bedroom mud-house with ten of her family members and they survived through Molapong’s pension grant.
Mrs Bomouan did not allow her background to deter her from achieving her goal of owning schools. She has proven that she is not destined to work as a domestic worker for the rest of her life, but predestined for greater heights in life.
She is now the co-director and founder of a primary school called, Ruach Christian School (meaning Holy Spirit in Hebrew). Ruach Christian School was launched early last year by Mrs Bomouan and her husband, Dr Maurice Bomouan (45), who previously worked as a car guard.
Ruach Christian School caters for Grade R learners (pre-school) to Grade 7 (primary school). The school will soon accommodate Grade 8 to 12 high school students.
The school is situated on the first floor of a building dubbed, “Absa building” in Roodepoort where the Bomouans started out their lives as a married couple in 2004.
This building has three floors and a car guard’s quarters at the backyard. It had first accommodated Dr Bomouan as an employee and his wife in the car guards’ quarters. But, two floors have now transformed into their business hub.
Not far from the street where Mrs Bomouan worked as a hawker around 2004, is Christian Creche, an NPO that she founded in 2011. It is situated in their first house that they purchased in 2006 which they have converted into a crèche.
Sharing her life experience with us, Mrs Bomouan said it took her almost 21 years to succeed in life.
“I came to Joburg in 2000 and lived in Tembisa. I got a job as a domestic worker in Clubview in Centurion. I was getting paid R50 per day and I worked on Saturdays only. Therefore, I was getting paid R200 per month. It was a lot of money back then. The owner of the house that I worked for gave me bedding stuff and I was excited. He would give me cooked and raw food, clothing and stuff for babies. But I did not have a child by then.”
Mrs Bomouan enjoyed her work as a domestic worker and did not experience any challenges.
“My mom was very strict. She taught me housework at the age of 12. Therefore, I did not experience challenges in my job as a domestic worker. I was just relaxed in my job.”
She worked for different employers in different cities around the Gauteng province. She later obtained a similar job and earned R800 per month.
“I also looked after my aunt’s kids. They would not give me money but a plate of food because there was no food at home. My mom was working but there was not enough money. I and four of my siblings, and six of my aunts’ children depended on my grandmother’s pension grant, I think it was around R600 or R800 per month,” said Mrs Bomouan.
According to International Labour Organization (ILO), there are 75.6 million domestic workers worldwide and 76.2 per cent are women and a quarter are men.
Mrs Bomouan’s work as a domestic worker ended at Rumisig where she earned R70 per day. To make ends meet, she later started an informal business as a hawker.
“I ran a public phone business and charged 50cents per call. My husband would push my trolley (to her selling spot), containing a chair for me to sit on while waiting for customers, an umbrella, public phone and its battery charger, two trays of eggs and sweets that I was selling.”
“I sat under the sun, heavy rains and strong winds waiting for customers to come and buy from me and make phone calls. The umbrella was not that strong. It would break when it was too windy. It was not nice.”
Her husband, who used savings from his meager salary as a car guard to start a vehicle registration, licensing, renewal, and number plates business, later brought her into the business.
The business which started from humble beginnings currently provides its service to well-known car dealers. It was through this business that they were successfully granted a home loan from the bank to purchase their first house which they later converted to a crèche.
She says her love for children propelled her to start Christian Creche. It was also prompted by the fact that her son was not properly looked after at the crèche he attended. “He was constantly sick because they were not looking after the kids properly. The meals were not well balanced. They ate tinned fish and rice every day. I said to myself, ‘now it’s time to start what I have a passion for (opening a crèche)’.”
Mrs Bomouan who has a Diploma in Ministry with Spirit Life Bible College and a Certificate in Ministry with Team Impact University, has registered with the University of South Africa (UNISA) to study towards a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Development: Foundation Phase) this year.
She explained that it was through the guidance of a fellow church member who is a qualified educator that she was able to register the crèche with the government’s Department of Social Development. But it did not happen overnight as there were lots of hurdles and procedures that they had to undergo to qualify to register it.
Christian Creche accommodates children from different ethnic groups and religious backgrounds.
Dr Bomouan said, “We are a Christian home (crèche), but Muslim parents allowed their children to be enrolled with us and teach them the Bible. They did not even complain that the food was not halaal. Jesus Christ is the foundation of our business. Parents from Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia also enrolled their kids”.
Based on how Mrs Bomouan and her team of qualified educators successfully operated the creche, the Department of Education allowed her to register Ruach Christian School (primary school).
An elated Mrs Bomouan said, “I praise the Lord when I think about what He has done for me. I was very excited when we learned that the primary school is already approved for registration. I sang to the Lord. It has been in operation for a year. I am so excited, I thank God”.
Reflecting on the effect of Covid-19 on her business she said, “Covid-19 has not only affected us but all nations, all race, the poor and rich. We have learned how to trust the Lord in good and bad times. In 2020, our finances were affected (due to Covid-19) so badly. The crèche was closed for six months, no work, no salary, but we were making sure we updated the parents concerning the reopening of the crèche. Remember, the primary school only opened last year”.
* Inside Education