From extraordinary acts of kindness to long-awaited dreams coming true, these are the stories featured in this week’s Good Things Guy newsletter and they’re all worth celebrating.
Johannesburg, South Africa (04 July 2026) – Every week, we publish more than 100 stories celebrating everything making South Africa a better place. Every Friday, we narrow those down to just 15 for our newsletter, sent to more than 100,000 subscribers. And every Saturday, we give you a little preview of what’s inside (our newsie as we like to call it).
Earlier this week, I jokingly sent the Good Things Guy team a message saying I was disappointed with our website stats.
I wasn’t really. We’re a cool team. And I sometimes like to be funny. I’m a funny guy.
“Team, I am just going through website stats… and to say that I am disappointed is not even an understatement.”
That is how I started the message. And then left it for minute or two. And followed on with:
“1 reader in Tonga and 1 in Samoa… can you please do better???”
And then we all laughed.
The truth is, I’ve never measured success purely by numbers. Reach matters, of course. It matters to our partners and it helps good news travel further. But Good Things Guy was never built to chase clicks. It was built on the belief that if one story reaches one person and leaves them feeling a little more hopeful, a little less alone or simply makes them smile… then it has already done something worthwhile.
Those two readers were on page 197 of our analytics. They had found a story about South Africans coming together to help a struggling mother and her children. They chose to read it.
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Vusa Launches Upgraded DigiBus to Boost Digital Learning for Langa SchoolchildrenPage 1 of those same stats tells another story. Nearly 3 million people read our articles in June. Our stories reached millions more through 947, 702, CapeTalk, eNCA, Die Groot Ontbyt and Onbyt Sake, across our social media platforms, on billboards around the country and through Google Discover, where our headlines were seen more than 71 million times around the world.
Those numbers are unbelievable. I am immensely proud of them.
But I think what matters most is knowing that every story has the potential to reach someone who needs it, whether that’s millions of people… or one reader sitting in Tonga or Samoa.
That’s why we keep doing what we do. Why we keep telling those stories. And this week, we had so many to celebrate.
One of my favourite follow-ups we’ve ever published takes us back to 2017, when we first introduced you to a young man named Keaton Harris. Back then, he had just finished university and dreamed of becoming a doctor. Today, we get to call him Dr Keaton Harris. After graduating Cum Laude with an astonishing 44 distinctions across two degrees, he is now serving patients in Orthopaedic Surgery while also using his platform to mentor aspiring medical students and speak honestly about the pressures facing healthcare workers.
His ethos seems to fit perfectly with ours.
“Success is measured by how many lives you have positively impacted.”
You can read our exclusive interview by clicking here.
Then there was Oom Shorty, whose first-ever visit to Spur at the age of 62 went crazy viral. He had never tasted the famous pink sauce or heard the birthday song and had never enjoyed what many South Africans would consider an ordinary family outing. Thanks to the incredible team at Moeggesukkel, he experienced all of that for the very first time. That video made me both smile. And cry.
“It was so much more than just a meal. It was an experience. A moment frozen in time that I will never forget,” they shared.
We also brought you another chapter in Sidney Miller’s remarkable journey. We’ve been following his story from the start.
After a stranger stopped to help him during a Cape Town storm, South Africans rallied together, raising more than R500,000 to help rebuild his life. Today, with the support of Chad Nathan, Souper Troopers, The Angel Network and countless compassionate people, Sidney is taking meaningful steps towards a future filled with dignity, stability and hope.
“Rebuilding after homelessness is about so much more than money. It’s about restoring dignity, rebuilding confidence, creating stability, and ensuring that every decision supports a healthy, sustainable future,” Souper Troopers explained.
Our SPAR Hero of the Week celebrated Constable Azile Nxokwana from the Centane Police Station, whose kindness, patience and professionalism earned heartfelt praise from members of her community. One Facebook post describing the way she treated every visitor to the station quickly spread across social media, reminding us that genuine public service still exists and deserves to be celebrated.
For our younger readers, this week’s Kids’ Storybook introduced Vaughn, a little South African who decided that the money he had been saving for a family holiday would be better spent buying a bicycle for Tony, the petrol attendant who had become his friend.
It is a story that will leaves you (and your kids) smiling long after you’ve finished reading it.
And our OnePlan Pawsitive Story featured Zorro, the ginger cat who survived a devastating fire before finding the loving family he was always meant to have.
Before he became the chonky and confident garden explorer he is today, Zorro the delightfully orange cat was known as Phoenix.
He was rushed to a AfriPaw-TEARS Animal Rescue outreach clinic last November after surviving a devastating fire that destroyed homes in the underserved community of Overcome Heights near Vrygrond. His owner desperately wanted to help him after the blaze left him with severe burn wounds. Phoenix was dehydrated, weak and in urgent need of veterinary care, so he was transferred to the TEARS Veterinary Clinic, where the team worked tirelessly to save him.
After intensive treatment and weeks of recovery, Phoenix was strong enough to move into the cattery. Although his owner made the difficult decision to surrender him so he could have a safer future, it also gave the brave ginger cat the chance to find a forever family.
That family arrived earlier this year.
Every week, I sit down to write these wrap-ups and realise just how much good is happening around us. We don’t ignore the difficult headlines. We just choose to make sure these stories have a place too. And yes, I am only featuring a fraction of stories from our newletter, and from the platform. But in reality, every article we write is so incredibly meaningful… and important.
Somewhere, someone needs these stories.
Whether that’s a family in Johannesburg, a student in Stellies, a doctor finishing a long shift, a person trying to find hope, or one reader sitting in Tonga… or Samoa.
So this week I want to end with this.
Thank you for reading our good things. Thank you for sharing them. Thank you for you. We do what we do, because you keep coming back. We promise that we will keep finding the good things, as long as you keep reading them.
Happy Saturday South Africa (and everyone reading this from other parts of the world).
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