Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Former cleaner creates success as an author, publisher
FORMER cleaner turned author, publisher and conservationist Haroldene Tshienda has celebrated the seventh year of her rebirth, of her life journey and career, in a book titled I am Number Seven.
“A lot of people ask me, why number seven? It is written on the back cover of my book. I am born in 1977, I am the seventh child of my parents and I got divorced in 2007. My life changed again and there was a lot of rebirth, and a lot of new things happened for me since 2007 and 2017.
“Those are my primary landmarks and it is the seventh anniversary of my company, where I realised that number seven is a big part of my life. All the people that came into my life, there are seven that pitched up.”
Book extract: “He came to apologise for beating me, and promised that it would never happen again. My niece, Jenome, asked him: ‘Uncle Lionel, what are you doing here at the house?’ Everyone’s eyes widened in shock, but nobody said anything. Against my better knowledge, I believed him. The beating of my heart told me that our marriage would never last. I chose to ignore the warning of a heart that already felt the pain of defeat.”
Tshienda, a married mother of four from Kuils River, rose from working as a cleaner at a hospital to owning her own company, Tshienda Publications.
This year she also celebrates 37 authors at the annual Global African Authors Awards in July in Johannesburg and has been invited to the Earthizen Awards later this month.
Her book launch takes place on April 9 at Bellville Library.
Tshienda said many people have inspired her during her seven years and carried her during her life. She has survived many battles, from a troubled marriage to a suicide attempt and rising above her circumstances.
“There are people who have been supportive of my journey: my sisters, my parents, my role model, pastor Dawn Petersen, she was my counsellor in my time when I was very broken.
“Since last year, Anthea Thyssen, author and motivational speaker, has referred so many clients to me, I brought home 27 awards in the seventh month.
“My whole life I was inspired by my parents, they both came from a background of rejection, my father grew up in an orphanage and from a mixed race family. My mother was also mixed race.
“They experienced a lot of rejection, but what I admired was they kept their heads high, they worked very hard for our family. From a young age my father taught me to work for my own money, he showed me how to make toffee apples or fudge, I started at school being an entrepreneur.”
Tshienda said her journey in the writing industry was a form of therapy but developed into a passion and career, and shares her story of rising above her circumstances in her book.
“I started write out of pain when I first published my book, it was to share my story and to encourage another person, how I conquered and survived so many things which were to cripple and destroy.
“And I saw more people who wanted help. I decided to turn into a business and seven years later, I have published hundreds of books.
“This book is not a biography, it is about me conquering the darkness, the challenges, the people who tried to do things to me. At the back of my book I wrote, ‘I am everything the darkness could not kill. I have overcome everything that was to destroy me.’
“It is something to celebrate. I did not die of Covid, I survived suicide, I survived all these unfair things.
“I am never giving up. It’s about me as a woman, the internal fights, forces and battles I carried, I took the sword and baton and stood up for myself and said ‘enough is enough’.”
Laverne Ess, Tshienda’s sister, said she was inspired by Tshienda. “She worked in a Medi-Clinic as a cleaner, I was in theatre and she was a cleaner, and then as a clerk, and now she has her own company.”
Farieda Abrahams, author of The Storm Within, which was published by Tshienda Publications, said Tshienda had been instrumental in her career. “She is a fantastic lady, she assisted me with my second book, I could depend on her and deliver on time and she guided me.”
Thyssen wrote on Facebook after reading Tshienda’s book: “I will honour you again for sharing your personal journey of pain, betrayal, abuse, rejection and mental health. I salute you for your braveness.”