In the quaint village of Richmond Hill, locals have continued to celebrate children’s birthdays by singing to them from their balconies and verandas, and even putting gift bags over the property boundaries – all done with the necessary sanity protocols and social distancing requirements.
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (2 April 2020) – While South Africans are about to enter the second week of the national COVID-19 lockdown, some small communities are creating their own silver linings.
In the quaint village of Richmond Hill in Port Elizabeth, locals have continued to celebrate the children’s birthdays by singing to them from their balconies and verandas, and even putting gift bags over the property boundaries – all done with the necessary sanitary protocols and social distancing requirements, of course!
“Today in Sherlock Street, Richmond Hill, we celebrated yet another birthday! And it was the one and only… Quadie! And once again the neighbours rallied together – making cards, giving gifts that were hidden in the lane between our houses for Quadie to treasure hunt (with physical distance) and with his direct neighbours, Yolande and Jacques Ferreira, who passed all his very special gifts from balcony to balcony.”
“Mariska Spoormaker, a proud member of the Richmond Hill community, posted the lovely photos of the birthday on the forum’s official Facebook page.”
Just a few days post-lockdown, the Richmond Hillers celebrated their first ‘social distant’ birthday. Dominique Hendricks always celebrates her birthday with family but was unable to do so this year because of the lockdown restrictions. Then the Hillers came to the rescue.
“Then the neighbours in Sherlock Street made a party plan – complete with Corona requirements in place. At 10:00 we came out on our balconies and sang, shouting, blowing whistles and waving rags and scarves. Fortunately, we were able to do this from balcony to balcony.
Even the dogs were curious!Residents across the street waved balloons and one played Happy Birthday from a cellphone in front of Dominique’s home. How wonderful that we could all celebrate Dominique’s birthday during the lockdown. We love living in the Republic of Richmond Hill!”
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