Sibongiseni Nkosi went from a beggar to a petrol attendant recently, all thanks to helping a man who had broken down in Auckland Park as it was getting dark.
Johannesburg, South Africa (22 November 2019) – Sibongiseni Nkosi has lived a hard life on the streets. He spent his days begging outside the SABC offices in Auckland Park. His life completely changed after helping a man who had broken down.
Vic Camphor, a collector of classic cars, was driving in one of his vehicles when it broke down. Sibongiseni saw Vic struggling with the car. Vic knew it was getting dark and unsafe, so he welcomed the assistance from Sibongiseni.
Vic recently spoke to Joanne Joseph from the 702 Afternoon Drive. He confirmed that after he and Sibongiseni finished pushing the car to the nearby dealership where Vic is a managing director, they spoke about life and what led Sibongiseni to the streets.
As a thank you, Vic gave Sibongiseni R50.00 and bought him a burger and chips. They then went their separate ways.
It was only after the World Cup final, when Rassie Erasmus gave his inspiring speech about the pressures felt in South Africa, that Vic thought he could do more.
“We started talking about pressure. In South Africa pressure is not having a job. Pressure is one of your close relatives murdered.
Because South Africa has a lot of problems and we started talking about how rugby shouldn’t be something that puts pressure on you. It should be something that creates hope. But you can’t create hope just by talking about it, hope is not something you say in a beautiful tweet.
Hope is when you play well. Hope is when people watch the game on a Saturday, and they have a BBQ, and they feel good about themselves, and no matter your political differences, or your belief differences, for those 80 minutes, you all agree. It is not our responsibility as players to create that hope, it is our privilege.” – Rassie Erasmus, Rugby World Cup 2019 Winning Coach
Vic tracked Sibongiseni down and offered him a job as a trainee petrol attendant at his petrol station. The position has already changed Sibongiseni’s life. Sibongiseni is hoping to stay clean and thanks Vic as the opportunity had allowed him to repair the relationship with his grandmother, which took strain when he was using drugs at home.
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Watch the SABC interview below.
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