Please don’t stop helping. And more than anything, don’t stop acknowledging, being kind and offering smiles to people in need.
Johannesburg, South Africa (12 July 2022) – My email inbox, private messages and WhatsApp are inundated with people who need help. Our intersections are filled with people begging for it. Help. There are so many people who need help.
And most of us are tired. We are seeing donor fatigue at a mass level.
When we publish stories about hunger, rebuilding, water issues, or anything that requires help, we see a slow response, and we get it… the need outweighs the donations.
But I don’t want you to stop helping when and where you can.
The reality is South Africa is facing abject poverty on a level we have never seen before. Our levels of unemployment showcase how there just isn’t any work (63,9% for those aged 15-24 and 42,1% for those aged 25-34 years), which directly impacts our poverty levels. Approximately 55.5% (around 30.3 million people) of the population live in what the government call the “upper-poverty line”, while another 25% (around 13.8 million people) are experiencing what the government deem as “food poverty”.
So in total, 80,5% of South Africa’s population live in poverty. That’s hard to hear.
When I was younger, fresh out of Varsity, I asked my pastor, “how do we choose who to give to when we only have a little share, but the need is so great? We see so many people around us in need every single day. How do we choose who to help?”
His answer is that intuition will tell you.
“You’ll make eye contact with someone at an intersection and know that your little bit will get their family through the day, or you’ll see the car guard and know that you helping will be the hope he needed to hold on to.”
But he also said that we must never forget how a single R5 may not make the most significant difference, but many R5s do.
“And if we all give what we can, when we can, when we feel like we should, then we’re collectively being helpers.”
So please don’t stop helping… and more than anything, don’t stop acknowledging, being kind and offering smiles to people in need. That might not help feed them, but I promise it does help them to feel human, noticed and cared for.
Be kinder than necessary to everyone.
Okay. Love you. Bye.
by 