20 Sep 2017

Many things in life can provide inspiration to an individual to become successful, says Maria Mayavero of Ndundu ward in Shakawe.

Ms Mayavero says a person can be inspired by other people’s accomplishments, seeing other people overcome adversity, quotes from great people; even the sheer beauty of nature can remind an individual on how lucky they are to be alive.

The 35-year-old Mayavero says through the sale of traditional hair food that she extracts from a local tree called Mono in Sembukushu, she is able to sustain her family.

Okavango milieu of flora and fauna has simplified her life, because the tree and its fruits are abundant in the area and she collects the fruits at no cost. Mono tree naturally grows and bears thousands of fruits per tree.

The thorny nutshell contains about six to eight bean-like seeds. The unripe kernel is green in colour while the ripe one is light brown.

The circular seed is black with slim white prints and has a tiny brown ball-like dot at the far end. The tree is not huge but can grow taller as the Mokhutsomo tree, and it also has a slim stem and lives longer.

In an interview with BOPA, Ms Mayavero says she gathers loads of nutshell, which she dries in the sun for about four to five days for the seeds to absorb more oil from sunlight.

As the shells dry up, they expand exposing the seeds for easy collection. She then roasts the seeds until they become shiny and golden brown.

Then she breaks them with a mortar and pestle and put them into boiling water and cook for them more than six hours.

While still roasting the seeds, the water evaporates leaving oil covering the top layer and everything is left to cool down.

The oil is then extracted and stored in 50 ml containers. Each container is sold for P100 but the price is negotiable.

“Extracting the oil is not an easy task because sometimes the water will completely evaporate without any oil being seen, which forces the cook to keep pouring more water until the oil comes out,” she said.

Cooking for more than six hours is not for the faint hearted, as it needs patience and self-determination.

Ms Mayavero cites challenges such as lack of protective clothing to wear while collecting the fruits because the leaves and nutshell are thorny.

She says a person has to observe some taboos when extracting oil like cooking in a closed place for the oil to come out quickly and to ensure that it does have nasty smell.

She says the business is profitable as she sells her product in places like Maun.

Mono oil hair food softens hair, eliminates afro growth and awful hair ends and allows hair to grow very long.

She testifies that she has been using the hair food from her childhood and her hair had grown well. However Ms Mayavero says she learnt making the hair food from her mother, and immediately after completing her Junior Certificate in 2000, she ventured into the business.

She also quotes one American publisher, author, diplomat and scientist, Mr Benjamin Franklin who once said, “Our brains are wired to find things we are looking for, if you’re always cynical or waiting for things to go wrong, and then your life will reflect that.”

She says having a positive outlook on life will bring joy and act as an inspiration, hence the need for young people to follow their dreams.

She says dreaming positively about life helps her see the amazing potential that life has to offer.

In 2003, the business was slow but the customers’ motivation, gave me strength to carry on with business. In order to expand her business, Ms Mayavero intends starting an orchard to grow the tree since searching for it was time consuming.

She says she is looking forward to get funding from government to purchase equipment to extract oil. Ends