Our country is basking in the glow of that gold cup that the Bokke held up on Saturday night. Yesterday and today the social media images are just so uplifting and it has made me proud to a South African.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was touched by the kindness of people making it possible for everybody that wanted to watch the match but didn’t have a tv or connection, to do so. I saw pictures of big screens and projectors in the streets, people sitting on the ground or on drums, the shopping centres erected big screens in the open spaces and they were packed to capacity. Everybody excited and happy. It has been an inspiring time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mind kept going back to an incident last week that brought the reality of how people are struggling, home to me. I had received a very big donation of frozen meat packed in 15 kg bags. The donation came a week late for my outreach as I had already made my rounds. I didn’t want to say no and risk being overlooked with the next donation so I collected it and packed it all into the Goanywherevehicle one late afternoon. There was a lot of bags and the weight of the frozen meat was dragging the back of the car down. The sun was already sitting quite low and I knew I wouldn’t make it too my outreach people in time should I decide to make another drop. I drove to the farm wondering what I was going to do with all the meat when I saw a little family of three gathering wood on the side of the road. A mom and her two boys. The kids must have been between 5 and 7 years old. I stopped the car and called them over. Mom hesitantly came towards me with the two boys cowering behind her. I greeted her in Setswana and haltingly asked her if she wanted a bag or two. My Setswana is not great. I once asked a guy to eat his dog when I wanted to ask him if he wanted food for his dog…true story. Those are the perils of learning a new language at my age…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her joy was unbridled and she hugged the frozen packs to her thin frame. The two little guys just watched me with big eyes, never saying a word and followed mom as she walked away with her prize. They must have been about 10 meters away from me when the youngest one turned around, looked at me and with enthusiasm he screamed:” Go Bokke!” whilst pumping the air with his little hand . This threw me off guard and it took me a few seconds to respond with my fist pump and a “Go Bokke!” Everybody laughed and as the two little guys followed their mom they kept chanting the same thing over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have thought a lot about that moment. The little guys must have been following the rugby as well and they used that to made a connection with me. The poorest of the poor and yet they were as excited about the rugby as I was. How great is it that we can unite in this common goal, breaking down any barrier that may exist. That’s the strength of sport. Reaching to the corners that are often overlooked and forgotten, touching the souls of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strangely enough these little guys were in my thoughts on Saturday night. I hope they saw the game and were inspired by the fact that dreams could become reality just like many of the rugby players that played for our country this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That donation of meat certainly went a long way as it filled many empty tummies and brought some relief to dire circumstances. All the meat was distributed by nightfall, nothing went to waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is cold tonight, the wind is howling and I have all the dogs wearing jackets.I hope those kids are warm. I keep looking for them as I drive to the plot everyday. I would like to add them to my list of outreach families that I visit every six weeks. Those little faces haunt me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can only do the best we can with what we have at that moment but I would like to do a little more for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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