In a country fed a daily diet of stories about crime, corruption and a myriad of social ills, the little nuggets highlighting the good things done by good people tend to get lost.
There are those among us who refuse to be cowed by criminals or demoralised by the government’s failures and the abject poverty that is evident everywhere in SA.
It is these people who fight back or do something about helping the less fortunate who give us hope.
Today, we have an article about a Gqeberha mother who used a traumatic experience at the hands of armed robbers at her smallholding 2½ years ago as motivation to become a formidable security operative — at the age of 52.
After completing a string of challenging courses, she tackled the toughest one of all — for a close protection officer — and is now a qualified specialist bodyguard.
“I just know what it feels like to be a victim, and decided I never want to experience anything like that ever again,” she said.
On the other side of the scale, we have two youngsters who despite now living overseas have given back to their former hometown.
The siblings — one of whom was inspired after a brief interaction with his hero, Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, at the Rugby World Cup last year — raised more than R50,000 in separate initiatives for needy and vulnerable children in the city and were here recently to donate the money to their individual causes.
The 12-year-old boy used the fame he garnered when the video of his moment with Faf went viral as a platform to raise the money for sports programmes in township schools.
His sister, 9, donated the money she had raised to a children’s home.
And then we have the most notable one of all — a group of fed-up Zwide residents standing up and saying “no more” to the theft and vandalism of municipal infrastructure in their area.
These residents marched to several houses and took back the stolen bricks, roof sheets, windows, doors and frames which the occupants had allegedly bought from the criminals, thereby encouraging them to continue their illegal activities.
The material had been stripped from the Nelson Mandela Bay rent office precinct.
Kudos to those mentioned here, just a few of the many doing something rather than just sitting back and whingeing about all that ails this country.
HeraldLIVE
Kudos to these everyday heroes making a big difference
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Image: SUPPLIED
In a country fed a daily diet of stories about crime, corruption and a myriad of social ills, the little nuggets highlighting the good things done by good people tend to get lost.
There are those among us who refuse to be cowed by criminals or demoralised by the government’s failures and the abject poverty that is evident everywhere in SA.
It is these people who fight back or do something about helping the less fortunate who give us hope.
Today, we have an article about a Gqeberha mother who used a traumatic experience at the hands of armed robbers at her smallholding 2½ years ago as motivation to become a formidable security operative — at the age of 52.
After completing a string of challenging courses, she tackled the toughest one of all — for a close protection officer — and is now a qualified specialist bodyguard.
“I just know what it feels like to be a victim, and decided I never want to experience anything like that ever again,” she said.
On the other side of the scale, we have two youngsters who despite now living overseas have given back to their former hometown.
The siblings — one of whom was inspired after a brief interaction with his hero, Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, at the Rugby World Cup last year — raised more than R50,000 in separate initiatives for needy and vulnerable children in the city and were here recently to donate the money to their individual causes.
The 12-year-old boy used the fame he garnered when the video of his moment with Faf went viral as a platform to raise the money for sports programmes in township schools.
His sister, 9, donated the money she had raised to a children’s home.
And then we have the most notable one of all — a group of fed-up Zwide residents standing up and saying “no more” to the theft and vandalism of municipal infrastructure in their area.
These residents marched to several houses and took back the stolen bricks, roof sheets, windows, doors and frames which the occupants had allegedly bought from the criminals, thereby encouraging them to continue their illegal activities.
The material had been stripped from the Nelson Mandela Bay rent office precinct.
Kudos to those mentioned here, just a few of the many doing something rather than just sitting back and whingeing about all that ails this country.
HeraldLIVE
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