Ubuntu showed up at just the right moment for Helen when a sheet of water stood between her and a sandcastle-building competition!
Port Alfred, South Africa (05 January 2026) – Each year, Harcourt Port Alfred and Multi Security host a sandcastle-building competition at the beach on Boxing Day. Children, adults and families enter into the event, and all proceeds raised go towards the Port Alfred Soup Kitchen.
This year, the small community event took place on the 29th due to choppy weather, but everyone still showed up with buckets, spades, and all the gees. And so did Helen, in her moonboot…
Helen, a business owner at Harcourt, looks forward to the day every year. Crowning the very best in Port Alfred’s sandcastle-building scene is a highlight, even when a painful ligament injury leaves you rocking a moonboot at the beach…
That was her predicament on the day of said sandcastle-building. Helen realised that she couldn’t cross the tide to reach where she needed to be without getting her moonboot wet.
“I was standing with a sheet of water in front of me unable to access the sandcastle-building competition. My coworkers and I were giggling, laughing and planning how I could cross the water without getting my foot wet…”
Thankfully, three beach-going legends were watching it all unfold. They stepped in at just the right moment. First, the youngest of the three offered to carry her across the tide on his back! A proper hero.
“When they caught wind of the palaver, they appeared from behind and the younger of the three asked me if he could put me on his back and carry me across the water, which I declined saying I would squish him if I was to get on his back.” laughs Helen. “The older of the sweet gentleman Joe offered to carry me if we were able to obtain a deck chair. I was very dubious about the concept of being carried across the water but my colleague fetched a deck chair and the three gentlemen very kindly carried me across the sheet of water which was no mean feet – I’m not the lightest human being on Earth.”
And so they carried her, all the way across to the other side, where sandcastle-building was underway.
“Their kindness touched me. They weren’t requested, they weren’t asked, they saw someone in need and through Ubuntu decided that they would help. They carried me across with laughter and smiles and got me to the other end. I was deeply touched by the kindness. They did it for no purpose other than that they saw a woman in need.”
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The good snowballed from there.
The annual competition drew in 23 different entrants who all brought their best sandcastle-building chops to shore. At the end of the day, a prizegiving was held and R2100 was raised, which went directly towards feeding the hungry.
That’s what Ubuntu is, friends. Those small acts of kindness that carry us over when things seem nearly impossible.
by 
