When Jaki Wilkinson assumed the reins of Salon Envy, a salon in Mornington, little did she know that her life was about to take a profound turn: she stumbled upon Hair Aid, a not-for-profit brainchild of fellow hairdresser Selina Tomasich, which aimed to uplift underprivileged individuals overseas by teaching them the art of haircutting. The concept piqued Jaki’s interest, but it wasn’t until 2018, when a friend planning a trip with Hair Aid approached her, that she decided to embark on this journey. And, so, Jaki’s personal odyssey with Hair Aid began.
“The next thing I knew, I was on a plane heading for Cambodia. It was very humbling but scary at the beginning, not knowing anything about the country or the people.
It was daunting. It was a two-week project. We saw S21, the concentration camp set up by the Khmer Rouge (The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum). We saw the Killing Fields – it was awful. We were sent to different locations; I was sent to the Cambodian Kids Foundation.
“Our objective is to teach people to cut hair. It’s a five-day course; five basic haircuts in five days. When they’ve finished the course, we gift them a pair of scissors, a wrap, clips, and a water spray so they have everything they need to get started in their own micro-business. They then take it into their village and cut hair there; they can get jobs in salons. This enables them to feed their families. Until you’ve been there and witnessed it first-hand, it’s extremely difficult to imagine.”
Despite the language barrier, Jaki and the team from Hair Aid find it easy to teach people, as they are eager to learn. “Many of them have never picked up a pair of scissors, so you’re taking them from holding scissors to scissor care and safety. Then, away they go.”
The trainees are interested in learning how to cut hair in whatever style is currently fashionable. “At the moment, it’s a lot of fades (close to the skin and then graduated). They just want to get stuck into the clippers. Last year, they wanted mullets. Just when you think you’ve said goodbye to the mullet, it comes back again.”
She has recently returned from a visit to the Kerobokan prison in Bali, where she says she found exceptional talent. Hair Aid has a formal agreement with the prison.
“One trainee in particular, Jhony, who I trained in March this year, has incredible talent.” Jaki says. ‘He messages me every day and is so grateful for the opportunity Hair Aid has given him. I visited him again in May, and he’s now working confidently in a barber’s shop.”
The team has even done a course on the Suwung rubbish dump in Bali. “It was hard to take. The dump is where all the rubbish goes from the local areas around Bali. They are just surviving. They’re extremely poor. We teach on the dump site. That’s the hardest location that I’ve ever done. They survive by going through the rubbish and recycling anything they can find. One lady was repurposing soap from hotels, grinding it down, grading it, making it into fresh soaps and selling it at the market. They’re extremely resourceful at recycling, more so than we are. After the course, we cut some kids’ hair at a local orphanage. That was a tough day.
One of the girls from the dump site is probably our biggest success story
“One of the girls from the dump site is probably our biggest success story. With her haircutting skills, she got her entire family off the dump, bought her own place in Denpasar, worked in a salon and has been offered many jobs because her skills are amazing She sends me messages all the time.”
Jaki is excited to be the project leader for Indonesia now. She ensures each trip has a full complement of hairdressers, organises their accommodation, travel and transfers, and meets with local government officials. Next year, she will send two of the hairdressers from her salon to Cebu in the Philippines.
Selina, her mentor, is the CEO of Hair Aid. She started Hair Aid in 2010 when she met two nuns working for a charity in Manila. The charity’s aim was to take in children abandoned on the streets and eventually reunite them with their parents, who were too poor to look after them. The nuns’ aim to give the parents a skill became Selina’s and, consequently, Jaki’s inspiration for Hair Aid. It’s a major commitment.
“When I was volunteering to go to a country, that was once a year, and now that I’m project leader, we’ll see how many times I have to shoot off,” Jaki laughs. “But I love it. It’s amazing.”
You can support Hair Aid or volunteer, by visiting Salon Envy rear of 136 Main Street Mornington, or phone them on 5977 2076.
hairaid.org.au
Peninsula Essence – August 2024