JIHAAN ABRAHAMS #HERWORKINGMAMASTORY

Jihaan Abrahams, owner of S.I.W.C. Slay It With Confidence Fitness Apparel And Trainer, is working

full-time and single mom with two young adults still living at home.

What does day-to-day look like and how do you juggle it?

My day-to-day is crazy. I’m up at 4:00 am and start teaching fitness classes at 5:30 am till 7:30 am then my day job begins at 8 am till 5 pm and then another fitness class from 6 pm till 7 pm.

Do you work because you want to, need to, or some combination of both? Why do you work?

There was a very sad moment in my life that turned my entire life around and to this day it plays back like it happened yesterday.

My daughter was 1 year and a few months and my son were a 9-month-old baby and we were faced with very harsh but realistic moments. We had nothing to eat except 1 wheat bix in a box. I split that between my two kids and put them to bed and prayed to God that they would just sleep.

That night I sat and watched my kids as they slept and wept uncontrollably, thinking that I’m heading for 22 and was about to become a single mom with two very little kids.

As I sat on the floor in the room that evening, I decided that I didn’t care that I was going to be the first divorcee in our family nor did I care that I was raised to “You made your bed now sleep in it” all that mattered was, what I wanted for my life and my kids.

I came from a background of being a professional dancer and was always traveling. This life I was living was not reflecting who I really was. That night I swore that not my kids nor myself would be in a position where I couldn’t feed them or give them the best that I could. Then at 2:00 am I packed up my kids and walked down Spine Road to my parent’s house. I decided it was just us and I am enough for them. With my son strapped to my chest and my daughter on the side of my hip I walked that road my daughter looked at me and said, “Mommy I walk.” My heart broke because I didn’t know if we would make it or if something would happen to us. I looked at her and said no Mommy got you and carried both my kids and made it safely by the grace of God to my parents.

. My now late parents took me and the kids in with open arms and were at our beck and call from then on. I started working in a call centre and had a second job in a retail store. from there I started working double shifts in the call centre and my parents helped with my kids. We got to a point where my dad would cover all my costs and I covered all the costs for the kids and we just kept moving forward.

I made a home for kids and myself in the southern suburbs and today I look at them all grown up and I still remember the evening I took them and left. We argue all the time as they are 22 and 23 now and to this day, I thank God for blessing me with these two humans and trusting me to have the strength to keep pushing through. To this day I still tell my kids whatever happens I’ve got this…