Mercedes Benz Helps Cape Town Man With New Mobile Barber Van, Provides 541 Haircuts to South Africa's Youth

• Warren Theunis has a vision, to give South Africans, young and old, dignity with a haircut, and he's been on a long journey
• The Cape Town barber's recent excursion saw him travelling around the Western Cape as part of a 16 Days for Youth initiative
• He experienced a setback on day four of the trip when his van suffered from mechanical issues and he made the difficult decision to park it

An incredible story of resilience and patience happened to Cape Town barber Warren Theunis, who was thrown a lifeline after the bus he purchased to use as a mobile barber suffered mechanical issues.

Theunis is a barber and a man with a huge heart who pays it forward in life by providing haircuts to pensioners free of charge once a month.

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Recently, he joined an organisation who were travelling around the Western Cape and offering support to underprivileged communities. But his plans were dealt with a huge setback a few days into the journey.

Theunis spoke exclusively to Briefly News as he recounted the moment his older Mercedes-Benz van overheated in Woodlands, Mitchell's Plain.

He didn't let that deter him from cutting the youngsters' hair and opened the sliding door to welcome them in, despite not being in the correct location. Mechanics were called out to assess the damage and they did a patch-up job on the bus.

Theunis says:

"At the same time, I made that call to my contact at Mercedes Commercial Orbit Frank Cairns, who informed me he needed authorisation from his superior Johan Potgieter for the go-ahead, but Frank never got back to me and the next day I drove the patched-up bus to the next location."

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Theunis then drove to the next location in Bellville South, and that morning Frank returned Warren's call and said the loan for the vehicle was approved. All Theunis needed to sort out was the insurance, and then he could use one of their vehicles for the remainder of the journey. In total, the Cape Town barber completed 541 haircuts over 16 days, an incredible achievement.

Obtaining insurance wasn't easy and with only two hours before Mercedes-Benz Commercial closed for that day, Theunis managed to get his insurance approved and he collected the van.

Theunis says:

"The journey with Mercedes-Benz continues and the best thing about the use of the van is that I didn't focus on the mechanical failures any longer but only at how best I could serve the community I was visiting the next day."

A Cape Town barber is converting a Mercedes Benz van into a mobile hairdresser to give free haircuts

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Warren Theunis is on a mission to convert a Mercedes-Benz van into a mobile barber. There's only one snag, he doesn't have a bottomless wallet, Briefly News reports.

The Cape Town barber's heart of gold comes across in his love for supporting the seniors in the city. Theunis provides free haircuts to pensioners once a month in Cape Town, which he's been doing since 2018 as an act of kindness.

Three years ago, Theunis took part in a '16 Days for Youth' project. where he provided haircuts to the younger generation from a sponsored mobile barber van. Subsequent to the 16 days project, Theunis was bitten by the mobile barber bug and set about trying to buy his own van. He sold his motorbike and raised just under R20 000 in a BackaBuddy fund to purchase a 22-seater Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

Source: Briefly News