People need to be prepared for the light at the end of the tunnel
Driven by her past experiences, Patricia Kunene managed to turn her life around and inspire others to do the same.
The Leechville resident recalls running away from home because she wanted her parents’ attention.
The attention she desperately needed was not given to her.
Instead, her parents asked where she had been.
“They would ask where have you been and what is wrong with you, why are you behaving like this, you don’t know what you want,” she said.
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Kunene said she could not answer the questions that her parents were asking nor could she communicate what she really wanted.
She said at times people may not understand your actions because they are trying to deal with their own emotions and they too may be hurting.
“When you don’t get enough love from your parents, you end up doing the wrong things and you turn to drugs and skipping certain stages in your life, like becoming a mother before the appropriate time,” she said.
Kunene said most of the friends that she had when she was on the streets are dead.
The 50-year-old said if it wasn’t for the seed of faith that was planted in her, she probably wouldn’t be where she was today.
Remembering that her mother was a seamstress, Kunene remembered how she used to love seeing her sew.
“I didn’t know much, but I knew I had to learn something, and that’s how I became what I am today,” she said.
Earning R85 at the time, Kunene began working as a seamstress and later moved on to doing upholstery which was considered a male’s job during that time.
The challenges she faced and the connections she made led to her eventually opening up her own upholstery business in 1999.
Kunene aims to teach people how to overcome the hardships of being in an environment where you are made to feel unwanted.
And how to best deal with people in those situations while taking care of yourself at the same time.
“People always say there is light at the end of the tunnel. What they don’t tell you is how to deal with the light when you have been in a dark place for a long time and I would like to prepare people for when the light comes into their lives,” she said.
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