Swakopmund resident Maria Bloodstaan, who has used her hands to heal aching bodies and comfort struggling community members for the past 50 years, is seeking help to procure a massage table.

Currently, the 60-year-old Bloodstaan uses her bed to treat clients.

Born in Mariental, Bloodstaan moved to Walvis Bay in 2006, where she worked as a domestic worker.

Besides her job, Bloodstaan used her acquired traditional massage skills to earn extra income.

When she lost her job, she became a full-time masseuse.

She was introduced to traditional massage at the age of ten by her grandmother, which she only perfected with further training.

"I really honestly want help with a massage bed. I'm busy renovating my son's room because he's not here; he's in a mental health facility, but he's fine now, though he won't be coming back home soon. I want to use the room for massage. However, my biggest wish is that I get help with a massage bed and towels and medication for those herbs which I can massage with."

Bloodstaan operates from her shack in DRC informal settlement.

"My grandmother always told me that one day when you give birth to girls, they will give your children massages. So she took me along whenever she went to massage people, and I started also doing it at the age of 10. My grandmother said to me one day that if I am gone from this earth, you will eat and drink from this craft if your children don't look after you, so I have learnt this from my grandmother and my grandmother's elder daughter."

She hopes for support from the good Samaritans and to improve her working conditions.