Paralysed twin sisters bring on the heat with their chilli sauce
The secret recipe was given to them by a friend, Shanti Jokan, who used to make the sauces for them. Jokan died five years ago.
“OUR names are Kayrashni and Jayrashni, but our friends and family call us Jay and Kay.
“We are a set of twins who is witty and fun to be with. We always have a smile on our faces and we have a condition called muscular atrophy which causes us to be paralysed from the neck down.
“We have started a small business at home, hoping it will grow into a big and successful business with the help of our caregiver, who we supervise making our products. Our product!”
This is an extract from the Facebook post of twin sisters and businesswomen Kayrashni “Kay” and Jayrashni “Jay” Sewnarain, where they introduce their business venture.
Kay and Jay from Pomona are cheery and amusing sisters who are always smiling and laughing. They live with their younger sister, Avashni, and are over the moon with their delicious sauces.
When they tell me they are 48 years old, I can’t believe it – they look so youthful. Kay gives me a knowing smile and says: “We take very good care of our skin.”
At this we roar with laughter.
They were first diagnosed with muscular atrophy, an advanced form of muscular dystrophy, when they were six years old.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that affects the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement.
“Some people who have muscular dystrophy will eventually lose the ability to walk. Some may have trouble breathing or swallowing.”
Although there is no cure for the disease, there are medications available to help manage it.
“By six we stopped walking and by 16 we lost the ability to use our hands. At 24 we left school. We were attending AM Moola Spes Nova in Phoenix, Durban, at the time. We moved to Joburg in 2005,” Kay and Jay explain.
They have two younger siblings.
Longing to gain some independence and prove that a disability doesn’t have to stop you from achieving your goals, the twins came up with the concept to sell home-made sauces.
Trading under the name Hot Shots, the sauces have taken off with a couple of hundred sales since inception.
The secret recipe was given to them by their friend, Shanti Jokan, who died five years ago. Shanti used to make the sauces for them.
They started experimenting with the recipe about six months ago, not knowing that this would be the start of something great.
“It actually started by chance. We had made some of the sauce and I took some to work and the crew members just loved it. Then one of my colleagues said, why don’t we sell it?” explains Avashni.
Eventually Avashni’s 12-year-old son Aarav (AKA the company’s CEO and social media specialist) decided it was time to get the products more exposure.
“He set up a Facebook page for them, which really boosted the business because we started getting orders from there as well. And that’s when we actually realised there is a market for the sauces,” says Avashni.
At the moment, Hot Shots has two sauces, the popular chilli sauce and the carrot achar.
“We have more recipes in the pipeline, though, that people can look forward to,” Jay says with excitement.
The versatile chilli sauce can be used not only as a sauce, but also as a marinade for chicken or steak, as a dip for chips and samoosas as well as a base for pizza dough.
The twins hope to take their venture further and eventually get their products into supermarkets and restaurants.
“Our target is a thousand bottles a month,” they say.
They have assistants who help them make the sauces.
For more information, contact the twins via WhatsApp on 081 849 0368 or like their Facebook page, Kayrashin Sewnarain.
