Flamingo - Art, Craft & Culture - Kevin Tsuseb of D7 Barbershop
Standing in the D7 Barbershop, you almost get the feeling that you’re in the middle of traffic. It’s a chilly Saturday afternoon and the place is buzzing with customers jostling to get the latest hairdo. I make my way through the mostly male clients, to have a chat with the man behind this Katutura success story.
Owner Kevin Tsuseb warns that to avoid disappointment it’s wiser to make an appointment early, as the shop tends to become busy, especially on weekends. He explains that he hasn’t had anything to eat since morning, an indication that he may not have time to entertain our conversation. An assistant arrives to my rescue and together we manage to convince him to invest some time in my favour.
He takes advantage and sits down with me to have a quick meal while I dig trenches into his background. Kevin Shawn Tsuseb was born in the Katutura hospital on 16 March 1985 and was raised in the lokasie of Damara 7, where he presently lives. He is the eldest of three children, his siblings being a late sister and young brother whom he is now the guardian of, following the death of their mother. He is also the adoring father of a two-year-old daughter.
From the exchange of a few words, I quickly learn that he is a serious man with a quirky sense of humour and a tall character. “Let’s not waste time with business talk and get to the real reason behind this interview. Admit that you’re here to ask my hand in marriage,” he insists in slang but polite Khoe-khoe, insinuating my intent to bag a wealthy husband and not to interview a prolific Namibian. I’m almost ready to protest my innocence when he breaks into a chuckle and claims to be joking.
His face turns serious as he gets back to telling me how his business started. He describes it as having risen from the ashes. “I was unemployed after a three-month stint at Windhoek Schlachterei. I didn't have formal work experience as I had failed grade ten and didn't get a tertiary education. I started this business some five years ago to support myself and to assist my family financially. My mother loaned me the capital for the equipment and I erected my shop on the side of our yard.”
The business started small with only one chair and cardboard boxes as the walls. It was very difficult to lobby customers, but he was committed to his goal and soon people in his area recognised his interest in positive development and started supporting him. “They saw the economic contribution I was making in the lokasie as I could now spend my money at their businesses. It’s a situation of one hand washing the other. That’s the culture of the D7 community… the attitude of the Namibian people.”
It’s this attitude that has enabled him to spread his wings to accommodate female clientele at D7 and helped him expand his barbershop to an outlet in Malaka Draai. Apart from that, he also rents out a section of his (inherited) house to tenants and hosts a fruit and cigarette vendor next to his business premises. The multi-faceted young man is also a gig DJ under the name Dj7 and spins at weddings, twenty-firsts, and other events. Soccer, philanthropy and education are at the core of his concerns as he vows to improve the standard of living not only for his family but also his immediate community and eventually the nation at large. Two of his ideals are exercised through ‘employing’ youngsters to sweep his shop for pocket money and his involvement in the Alcohol Soccer Team, aimed at rehabilitating alcoholics through football.
He says he is fortunate to be a citizen of a country where honest men are granted the opportunity to prove themselves and where success is determined by ability, hard work and determination. “It’s a peaceful country where I can raise my daughter knowing that she owns her democracy and where she is the master of her destiny.”
And if she is anything like her father, she will make a success of her life by the same ideals. “I want my daughter to be motivated, just like the maid taking the bus every morning to wash dishes to feed her family, to outrun despair, be focused and inspired like Frank and put her mark on the world, and punch adversity like our boxers do every time they get into the ring. Like her country, I want her to have warmth and character.”
Kevin depicts the true identity of Namibia, a young nation with harsh origins and a bright and pros-perous future. After having spent the entire afternoon with the focused self-starter, I leave inspired, intact with the gift of faith renewed and consider myself fortunate to be a part of Kevin’s Namibia.
Lokasie: local word for location or neighbourhood.
