Kat Stott shared an incredible story about how Godfrey Makhubela saved her and her daughter on the N1… and today she gave him R20,000 raised through a crowd funding campaign!
Kat and Godfrey met during a highly tense moment. Kat and her daughter had broken down on the N1 in the middle lane is what Kat described as a harrowing moment because trucks and cars were swerving behind her realising at the last moment that she had broken down.
Kat shared the inspirational story on Facebook where South Africans were celebrating the Good Samaritan and hero, thanking him for his act of kindness!
“I need to shout out praise for a fellow human being today, my hero! Someone who I believe saved me and my daughter from a fate that could have been death or serious injury. A selfless, kind and compassionate human who I cannot classify as anything else but a guardian angel!”
Kat broke down in the middle of the N1 highway on Saturday while en route to a wedding with her daughter. The car just failed them and stopped working while in the middle lane. All she could do was pull the handbrake up and put her hazard lights on.
“People were hooting at me – like I’d actually chosen to stop in the middle lane of the flippin’ N1 – screaming at me and flashing their lights as they swerved away at the last second.
You cannot believe the craziness of being stationery on a highway that is flowing at 120km an hour. When you’re driving you are a part of the flow, so you don’t feel the speed. When you stop, you suddenly realise how vulnerable you are. It was HARROWING. Watching through my rear-view mirror as a 16-wheeler truck filled my back window, only to swerve away from hitting me within milliseconds. Watching 15 cars pile up behind me at random angles as they swerved to miss one another and ultimately prevent themselves from crashing into me. How we didn’t get hit was beyond me and an absolute MIRACLE!”
She had called Discovery Insure to come and assist and they were on the way, but all the mom and daughter could do was wait.
“Next minute I look in the rearview mirror, and there was an e-Toll tow truck parked behind me and this man at my window. My initial reaction was that I can’t pay this guy and Discovery is on the way. He says to me: “I don’t want your money. I don’t want anything from you. All I want is for you to be safe. Someone is going to bump you… you are not safe here.”
“Needless to say, I burst into tears. This kind man’s consideration for us as strangers was just beyond incredible.”
The hero was wearing reflective clothing, so he started by directing traffic away from the car as he placed beacons in the lane behind and around them. He drove his truck to the front and then came and took her daughter by the hand and escorted her to the safety of his vehicle. He told Stott to put her car in neutral and remove the handbrake so that he could hitch it up and pull it onto the flatbed. He then came and personally escorted the mom to the cab of his truck and finished pulling her car up.
He drove them a few hundred metres to the closest eToll gantry where there was a wide concrete section to park on. He took the car down off the flatbed and then came to Stott again and said…
“I didn’t want to scare you or hurt you. All I wanted to know was that you were safe.”
Kat told Godfrey that he is an incredible human being and she believes that the world needs more people like him.
“I would be eternally grateful for his help and kindness. He sat in his truck and waited until Discovery Insure picked us up and as soon as he knew we were okay, he drove off. Just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone, but I will never forget his kindness!
I am still so overwhelmed by his compassion. He is pure light and love. Thank you, Godfrey, may life be ever so kind to you!”
After sharing the story on Facebook, Kat became inspired by all the positive comments that the post was receiving and started a BackaBuddy crowdfund. The goal was to raise R20,000 and in just a few days, they managed to raise the full amount.
We invited Kat and Godfrey to join us in our offices to handover our SPAR Hero of the Week gift card as a thank you for his kind deed. What Godfrey didn’t know when he arrived at our office, was that Kat had a big surprise for him too.
His face the moment he heard that she had raised R20k for him, was one of shock and disbelief.
The surprise in his voice and in his eyes brought us to tears. The moment was incredible to witness and after the video ended, Godfrey couldn’t put the words together to comprehend how much money he now had. The hero was deeply appreciative and thankful for all the generuous people who had donated to the campaign.
We had a good cry, it is stories like this that inspire us to continue sharing the good. People really underestimate just how much one small deed can change. This is why we have a weekly hero, to remind those who do good that their efforts don’t go unnoticed.
“I met up with Godfrey today to tell him about the crowdfunder account and the money that was raised for him. He was overwhelmed, to say the least! He is saving to build his home in Limpopo and this is what he needed to get started. I think he might have said thank you a hundred times! To everyone that contributed, thank you from the bottom of my heart! xx” – Kat Stott
If you missed the live video, you can watch it below. Grab a tissue!
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