5
www.thevillagenews.co.za
10 February 2021
LOVE A LITTLE LOCAL
A random act of kindness Writer Elaine Davie
I
n many ways the Coronavirus pandemic has provided fertile ground for random, unsolicited acts of kindness, often anonymous and unrecorded, to occur. There is something very special about someone becoming aware of another person’s need and spontaneously deciding, without the expectation of anything in return, to share their own resources with them. As we know, our children have been particularly hard hit by the lockdown. Not only was their 2020 school year seriously disrupted, leaving them with a sense of insecurity and displacement, but when the daily meal they received at school was discontinued, it pushed many into virtual starvation. Mothers and fathers lost their jobs and even when some of them returned to work, the children were left to their own devices in a sometimes unsafe environment. Added to the uncertainty of on-again, off-again dates for the opening of public schools this year, concern has been growing amongst parents about how they will be able to provide their children with school uniforms, especially those who are starting primary or high school for the first time. The three PEP Stores in Hermanus – in the CBD, at Gateway Centre and the Whale Coast Mall – report that they have been putting away school uniform lay-bys for customers since about October last year. Whale Coast Mall PEP Store Manager, Ashlene October reports that some of their lay-bys were cancelled by customers struggling financially. With the new school year due to start on the 15th of this month, she says, the parents are becoming increasingly anxious. And then, to the jaw-dropping amazement of the three store managers, last Wednesday a Hermanus couple visited each of them and paid in full all the outstanding lay-by accounts for school uniforms and stationery currently on their books – 158 in total, worth around R83 000. Some were for one or two items, some for a new learner’s full kit. As the donor himself said, “It was heartbreaking for us to learn that it might take four months for a customer to pay off one pair of school shoes for, say R100.” After the Whale Coast Mall store closed that day, the staff immediately started parceling
up the lay-bys, allocating a voucher number to each and calling or SMSing the relevant customers to give them their number and telling them they could come and collect their purchases. “We wanted to give them the good news straight away,” says Ashlene. When we visited the store on Saturday morning the customers were still arriving to pick up their parcels, most of them with a dazed look in their eyes, afraid they might have misunderstood the message. Two of them rushed at Ashlene before she could stave them off, to give her a huge hug. “No, no, no, it’s not me; it’s an angel who paid off your lay-by,” was all she managed to get out. Another lady told me she had three children, two in high school and one in primary. She opened her parcel and took out three pairs of shoes to show us. “I am unemployed,” was all she managed to get out. PEP introduced a Lay-By Buddy initiative, inspired by a similar gesture by an anonymous donor in a Mossel Bay store in December 2019 who paid off all the lay-bys in that particular store. Benefactors wishing to assist customers with the payment of their lay-bys, for any purchase, may contribute anything from as little as R2 in any PEP store at the till or R20 online at www.pepstores.com. PEP’s policy is that lay-bys must be paid off in full within a four-month period, and given the financial difficulties many people find themselves in, a random act of kindness like this could make all the difference to their peace of mind. But, of course, this is certainly not the only way to reach out with assistance to someone in distress. It need not even involve a monetary transaction. At this time, when many people are in pain from the loss of a loved one and afraid of what the future may hold for them or their families, there is no shortage of opportunities for random acts of kindness directed at someone you know, or may never know. During the pandemic, if not previously, we in the Overstrand have been shown to be people with big hearts and a spirit of generosity. Our challenge to each of our fellow-citizens, rich or poor, is to become a serial dispenser of random acts of kindness. In the words of the anonymous donor, “If everyone did something small, we would live in a beautiful world.”
Two of the young mothers who were dumbstruck at being able to collect their paidup school uniform lay-bys at Pep Store Whale Coast Mall last Saturday were Sonelise Mfamana (Left) and Khalza Motlohi (Right). In the centre is Store Manageress, Ashlene October, who was just as thrilled as her customers. PHOTO: Taylum Meyer
MONTH OF LOVE
MEGA DEALS!
