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News - Date: 23 June 2006
“Never go to sleep on an empty stomach and forget that there is a fortune in your hands and brains. We can easily win the war against poverty and unemployment if we stand up and use our brains effectively. There is no specific job for a specific gender. That is why I ventured into this formerly male-dominated undertaking because I believe in myself and I know that I am the only one who can make things happen…”
This is an inspiring message of hope from Joyce Dzhivhuho, a courageous woman of Thohoyandou Block F, who started her flower- and lawn-planting business with only R20 in her pocket in 2003. Because of her hard work and fighting spirit, Joyce is now a role model to many as she now designs and plants flowers in government building gardens, schools and private property. While other community members are talking the language of computers, pens and the latest technology, Joyce speaks the language of work suits, spades, digging forks, scissors and insecticides.
“I believed in myself and used my only R20 to buy flower seeds. When the flowers were ready for planting, I picked up my wheelbarrow and started selling them in the streets at Thohoyandou Block F. I used the small profit to buy more flower seeds and plant more flowers for sale. I fell in love with flowers when my garden was voted the most beautiful one in Thohoyandou Block F in 2002. Because I was unemployed, I realized that I could earn some money from the flowers, and the rest is history.”
Joyce says she became a laughing stock when she started her business: “People laughed at me while I was moving around with the flower wheelbarrow. Some of them said I was out of mind, but I did not care about them because I knew what I was doing. The fruits of my hard labour are paying off because I can now put some food on the table…”
Joyce also takes care of the flowers for her clients after planting. “I come up with different garden designs for my clients to choose from. I then plant the flowers and take care of them, which include watering, pruning and applying insecticides at regular intervals.”
Joyce encourages other unemployed members of the community to wake up and create jobs for themselves.
“Laziness breeds misery and we need not sit down and wait for miracles to happen. It is a clear fact that the government cannot provide everyone with a job and we have to make sure that we make ends meet, in a reasonable way. I will never top working on flowers because I know that wealth comes from the soil.”
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