Plenty of difficult headlines competed for our attention this week… but beyond them were hundreds of stories about people helping, giving, creating and making life better for someone else.
South Africa (29 August 2026) – This week has been heavy… in the news and my TikTok algorithms. From the Lindsay Clancy trial to the devastation in Nepal, the many wars and conflicts unfolding around the world, our latest murder statistics here at home, and the countless headlines about crime, corruption, infrastructure failures and politicians politicking in the lead-up to the elections… there has been a lot to process.
Then there was the passing of Hayden Panettiere, Tim Curry, Peter Cullen and Dolly Parton.
My feeds have been filled with Dolly this week. With all of her… her music, her humour, her personal videos and her brilliant “one-liners” in every interview. But more than anything, it has been filled with stories about her goodness. The same has happened around dinner tables and in conversations with friends. We’ve talked about the extraordinary way she chose to use her platform.
Dolly was a country music legend, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist… but I think her heart was the thing that made her Dolly. She spent decades using her fame and fortune to help other people. She gave hundreds of millions of free books to children, paid for scholarships and education, helped families rebuild after devastating fires and floods, donated millions to medical research, supported children with cancer, improved healthcare in her hometown, created jobs in the community where she grew up and consistently stood up for people who felt excluded or marginalised.
She never forgot where she came from. And as her success grew, so did the amount of good she chose to do with it. She left this world better than she found it.
The reality is that we cannot control every headline. We cannot stop every war, fix every broken system, stop the hate in this world or carry every tragedy we scroll past. The weight of everything happening can make us feel completely powerless. But we are not powerless when it comes to the little piece of the world directly in front of us. We get to decide what we do with what we have. We get to decide how we treat people. We get to help where we can, give when we are able, stand up for someone who needs it, make somebody laugh, open a door, create an opportunity, offer kindness or just make another person’s day a little easier.
Dolly had an enormous platform and enormous resources but the principle behind what she did was simple and incredibly beautiful… use what you have to do some good. And that is the hope I needed from this very heavy week. Eventually, all of us leave. The headlines move on (quickly). The algorithms find something new (even quicker). But the good we put into the world can keep travelling long after we are gone.
Dolly actually gave us the perfect words for that too. Whitney made it famous (for me) but Dolly wrote these words.
“I hope life treats you kind,
And I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of,
And I wish you joy and happiness…
But above all this, I wish you love”
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And that is exactly what we can wish for each other. This week. And every other week too.
Your Weekly Dose of Good Things
Our Good Things Guy newsletter has been part of what we do for 11 years now. Every Friday, it is sent to 100,000 subscribers, filled with 15 stories carefully chosen from the week that was. And choosing those 15 is no small task… we publish around 110 good news stories every week, which means the newsletter is really just a sneak peek at everything happening across South Africa.
And this “Saturday Wrap Up” is a sneak peek into that sneak peek.
All the conversations about Dolly inspired my “editor’s letter” this week but here are a few stories that we featured that reminded us just how many good people are doing with whatever they have, spreading that joy, happiness and above all, love!
Sandile Found a Wallet. What He Did Next Mattered.
A lost wallet can ruin your day before you’ve even had time to think about everything that needs to be cancelled and replaced. But when Scottburgh resident Sue Low lost hers, the story took a very different turn.
Sandile, a worker on her residential property, found the wallet and immediately handed it over to his employers, completely intact. Sue was so moved that she publicly thanked him, writing: “Your honesty and integrity truly touched me… Thank you, Sandile. May God richly bless you for your honesty and kindness, and may many blessings come your way.”
It was one small decision that saved somebody else an enormous amount of stress, and when the story was shared online, South Africans joined Sue in celebrating Sandile. You can read that full story by clicking here.
Jesse is 12. His Kindness Fed Families.
At just 12 years old, Jesse Thurman already has a pretty beautiful understanding of leadership… it is not just about being in charge, it’s about doing something that matters.
As part of Somerset House’s voluntary Grade 7 Leadership Programme, Jesse chose to create 100 Jars of Hope, filling jars with ingredients that could be turned into hearty meals for families in need. He rallied his school, friends, family and neighbourhood, collected around R2,500 worth of ingredients, washed jars, calculated quantities and spent weeks bringing the project together.
With the help of community hero Gigi Roper, those jars eventually made their way to families in an informal settlement in Macassar.
His mom, Ciska, summed it up best: “As a kid who is privileged enough not to worry about where his next meal is coming from, this was an invaluable lesson in imagining how he could make a tangible impact and then putting that into practice.”
A South African Medley That Will Give You Goosebumps
In October last year, during the United Rugby Championship season, a highly anticipated match saw the Bulls take on Leinster at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. They won. We believe, after seeing this goosebumps performance, that a special medley of South African favourites must have had something to do with it!
The Vox Chamber Choir lit up the field on game day alongside the young singers of Curro Hazeldean’s senior school choir. The magical mash-up of hits they performed is called HEARTBEAT. It features Vicky Sampson’s African Dream, Savuka’s Great Heart, and the Lion King movie’s famous Circle of Life, which featured South Africa’s Lebo M as a collaborator.
“What an unforgettable experience it was to perform in front of a massive crowd at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria,” the choir shared. “There is something extraordinary about hearing South African music fill a stadium.”
We agree. Goosebumps. All of them.
SPAR Hero of the Week: Asekho Ran 21 Half-Marathons for Future Doctors
Most people celebrate turning 21 with a party. University of Pretoria medical student Asekho Mbokodo decided to celebrate hers by running 21 half-marathons to help other medical students.
Asekho had noticed that some of her fellow students were entering clinical training without stethoscopes, so she set herself an enormous challenge: 21 races of 21.1 kilometres to raise money. Seven months later, she had completed every race and raised R26,361.
“Some enter the wards without essential equipment… not because they lack dedication or talent, but because the cost is beyond their means,” she explained.
You can read that full article here.
Kids’ Storybook: The Petrol Attendant Who Became a Doctor
This week’s Kids’ Storybook introduces little readers to Ntando Makhubela, whose dream of becoming a doctor almost ended because his family could not afford university.
Ntando had achieved brilliant marks at school and earned his place to study, but without the money to continue, he returned home to Mbombela and found work as a petrol attendant. The uniform may have changed… but the dream did not. A community leader eventually heard his story and encouraged him to apply for a scholarship. Ntando was selected to study medicine in Cuba, where another enormous challenge awaited him, before he could study medicine, he had to learn Spanish. He did that too.
You can read that full story here.
OnePlan Pawsitive Story: Seven Years of Love Changed Everything for Leo
When Leo arrived at the Swellendam SPCA in 2019, the eight-year-old stray had already experienced years of neglect. His little body was covered in mange and hot spots, his coat was badly matted and he desperately needed someone to show him what being loved actually felt like. The SPCA treated him, cared for him and shared his story online. Then someone saw him, fell completely in love and travelled from Johannesburg to Swellendam to bring him home.
Seven years later, Leo is 15 years old and thriving.
“The only thing he knows now is love,” his rescuers shared as they celebrated his seventh anniversary in his forever home.
And you can see it all over him. Check out the before photos here.
And those are just a few of the good things… and there are so many more! Every single day, South Africans (and people all around the world) keep doing good things! We may never know how far our good travels but that should never stop us from putting more of it into the world.
“Joy. Happiness. And above all this, love.”
Thank you Dolly, what a beautiful wish… and what a profound way to live.
by 
