I am here to remind you that where there is bad, there is always good. I should know; we report on it every single day. This is “from the desk of Good Things Guy”. A weekly bite-sized look – into the good and bad – of South Africa.
Johannesburg, South Africa (28 February 2023) – Deep breaths friends. Just keep concentrating on that deep breathing. It’s a lot, I know… but we must keep breathing.
Today was particularly tough. I woke up this morning to whatever stage of loadshitting it is, a notice from the government to be aware that we might have a Cholera outbreak in Gauteng, no internet due to a widespread outage and hardly any cellphone reception.
How the hell did we use to only have 3G??? I can’t even get a sms on 3G??? Also, I was called entitled on Twitter yesterday because I dared to ask mobile operators to try to do something to keep us connected when the blackouts hit but apparently, this is a stretch and we shouldn’t ask for a cellphone provider to provide cellphone reception.
Ja, anyway. I digress.
We woke up to crime, poverty, inflation, terrible leadership and everything else in between, all while still dealing with the collective hangover from De Ryter’s interview and that scathing Eishkom corruption article featured in the Daily Maverick – kudos to the incredible journalists who are blowing the whistle on that one and every other cray-cray thing going on in South Africa.
Oh, at least our President’s “from the desk of” writer found some optimism in our greylisting. Apparently they believe this is a good thing as it will give us the “opportunity to fight financial crimes”.
Dear Mr President, ex-nay on the financial crimes-ay, we all remember your couch-ay (and everything else-ay).
Look, maybe we should all just be thankful that there are no tigers on the loose.
Ja, it’s a lot. Living in South Africa is like living in a real-life Jumanji game. One minute you’re drinking a glass of chardonnay-nay and the next, you’re having to boil the tap water to make sure your ice isn’t going to kill you. It’s flipping wild.
But maybe we need to reshift our focus. Just for a minute. We may need to look for silver linings or good things here. You know, cause I’m the Good Things Guy, it has to happen. I am here to remind you that where there is bad (and a real kak government), there is always good. I should know; we report on it every single day.
In the past couple of days, some really lekker feel-good stories have passed our way. And I want to share 5 with you. You know to reset for a minute.
So here goes.
Deep breath. Let your shoulders relax. Unclench your jaw and feel that stress and anxiety leave your body.
- A mom started an inspiring school initiative that other schools are picking up on, where kids are given loaves of bread to donate to the needy every week. The little nursery school has already given away 6,000 loaves of bread and the initiative is now spreading to other schools!!!!
- A group of concerned Joburg residents spent Sunday fixing potholes in Greenside and Emmarentia. The trio identified seven large potholes in the area and worked together to make the roads safer for their neighbours. Thank you to these incredible active citizens! Ja, potholes are the worst and the government can’t keep up but how great is it that neighbours are just getting stuck in to do good?
- An organisation rescued and diverted 2,267 tonnes of food from supermarkets and farmers and donated it all to charitable causes instead of going into a landfill. That food was used to feed the needy. THAT IS 2,267,000 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD!!!! Absolutely incredible.
- Another Mom was reunited with her son after 41 years of searching for him. She was forced to give him up for adoption but never gave up on her love for him. And at 60 years old, she found him… and found out he had been searching for her for 41 years. Who is chopping onions here?
- Oh, and Tom Cruise was honoured with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award by the Producers Guild of America and all he spoke about on stage was the beauty of South Africa and our Ubuntu.
Oh, and here’s one more… that Uber driver I wrote about yesterday is getting his Pirate’s shirt today. Now that’s a good news story.
Hope this post was a little breather from the Jumanji nonsense.
Also, voetsek ANC.
Okay. Love you. Bye.
by 