80 pages

English

Archive of Kindness , livre ebook

SUPERNOVAMAGAZINE - Jess Auerbach

Cet ouvrage n'est pas disponible.

80 pages

English

Cet ouvrage n'est pas disponible.

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In a country gripped by the Covid–19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown, fear, loss and uncertainty were felt in all corners and by all. But, even in our darkest days, stories of immeasurable kindness emerged: of a woman reading to her neighbour’s child through the fence; of a gardener who checked up on an old lady living alone on a farm and tended to her flowers; of a nurse who fed Weetbix to a dying man until the day he passed away, and of a man who gave his Wi-Fi password to his whole neighbourhood. There are countless examples of micro-kindnesses which, though small, had a big impact on their recipients. Archive of Kindness documents these and many other stories collected by Jess Auerbach and her students at North-West University. The book will act as a reminder of a difficult time in world history and how people living in South Africa lightened the load for others. We hope that this book will be a lasting testament to the goodwill inherent in our young and fragile nation and a reminder to always be kind.

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Littérature Sud-Africaine

Littérature sud-africaine

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Publié par	SUPERNOVAMAGAZINE
Date de parution	20 septembre 2021
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9780620938013
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	76 Mo

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ARCHIVE of KINDNESS Stories of everyday heroism during the South African lockdown

“Every Souh African should have a copy of his book because i reminds us who we really are. This is he real Souh Africa.” Amoré Bekker RSG

Jess Auerbach Illusraions by Jehro Longwe

ARCHIVE of KINDNESS

by Jess Auerbach Illusraions by Jehro Longwe Aterword by Prof. Dumi Moyo

Stories selected from theArchive of Kindnessby Prof. Lucille Blumberg Michelle Constant Prof. Jonathan Jansen Judge Shehnaz Meer Dr Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu Pavitray Pillay Lieutenant Thabang Sebetoane Nolitha Tsengiwe

• BK PUBLISHING PRETORIA

ARCHIVE OF KINDNESS

st 1 Impression 2021

Cover design: Benoit Knox Text design: Jessica Colley Project manager: Su-Mia HoFmann

Printed and bound in South Africa.

Copyright permission: In terms of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

ISBN -13 Paperback edition: 978-0-620-93801-3 Hardback edition: 978-0-620-95759-5

To order: shop.bkpublishing.co.za sales@bkpublishing.co.za Tel: +27 12 342 5347

More from Archive of Kindness www.archiveofkindness.co.za

More from Jess AuerbachJessauerbach.net @jess_auerbach

More from Jethro Longwe www.jethrolongwe1.wixsite.com @jethrolongwe

This book has been made possible by the generous contribution and collaboration of our sponsor

stepiedu.com

From Jess: To the kids, who one way or another will inherit the results.

From Jethro: To Marnette Swartz, the lecturer at Ruth Prowse School of Art, who got me through my degree, even with the pandemic. Thank you.

Introduction

Contents

Frontline Nurse Fruit, Yoghurt, Health Flavours of Encouragement Just Doing Our Job More than Medicine Last Meal

Lucille Blumberg Get Well Soon While Waiting Don’t Worry About the Money Safe Shopping The Gift of Blood Safe Eating

Thabang Sebetoane A Human Hug Your Need is Greater Starting a Family in a Pandemic Sharing a Meal Everyone Understands Thabang’s ReLection

Pavs Pillay Wi-Fi Tree Fish Friend The Mysterious Waterer Fear and Safety Mobile Money Food for Wild Animals Pavs’s ReLection

Shehnaz Meer How Much to Give? Care is in the Cutting Filling in the Gaps A Roof for Strangers Time to Talk

Nolitha Tsengiwe Food for the Journey Teaching Through Tough Times A Home for the Elders Strength from Within Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu Securing the Future Listening It Was More Than Work Baking Birthday Cakes Ubering Birthday Goodness

Jonathan Jansen Dorm’s Free! The Dance Goes On! Knitting the Future Online Education Dance the Jerusalema

Michelle Constant Sharing Meals Partnerships that Work And There Was Light! Whatever it Takes Michelle’s ReLection

102

114

Community Action Networks Space to Recover Essentials Finding Nourishment, and Purpose Biking in Food Finding a New Life

Afterword

Jess’s Relection

About the Team

Acknowledgements

A Personal Record of Kindness

126

138

142

150

152

154

Introduction

Jess Auerbach

Welcome to theArchive of Kindness. I’m glad you picked up this book. I hope it will remind you that even when things are really frightening, we have a safety net around us all: each other.

TheArchive of Kindnessrecords just a few of the acts of kindness that have quietly held South Africa together over the endless months of the Covid-19 pandemic. These are what have carried us as we have faced uncertainty, fear, and grief. Small and large, public and intimate, known and anonymous – our interactions with other people (even at a distance!) shape our reality.

I started theArchive of Kindnesswebsite in 2020 to document these ‘micro-kindnesses’ and expanded it with my students at North-West University. We ultimately recorded almost 2000 anonymous stories of remarkable kindness and care.

It became clear that there was a need to publish theArchiveas a book to celebrate and document the pieces of hope that the public shared with us. The following 50 stories were chosen from a shortlist of about 150. I divided the stories loosely into themes and invited people who played an important

role in the pandemic response to select îve stories that resonated with them.

The result is a book îlled with a myriad of stories that reect acts of human kindness all around the country, beautifully brought to life by the illustrations of Jethro Longwe. Archive of Kindnessis designed to be picked up at any time and the stories can be read in any order. I invite you to page through and be encouraged by the hope that resonates from every word.

We are all dealing with loss, fear and uncertainty, but most of us have been touched by kindness. At the end of the book, there is a space for you to document your own experiences of human kindness as a memento or a way to process the events unfolding around us.

Through this book, we honour those who uplifted us during the pandemic and remember those who have passed away – both the counted and the uncounted, those who died of Covid-19, and those who died because imperfect systems crumbled all around them. We now must do better. And as this book shows, the blueprint for how is already within us.

Read more stories from theArchiveand share your stories at www.archiveofkindness.co.za.

Stories chosen by... Frontline Nurse

The nurse who sent in these stories has chosen to remain anonymous. He is passionate about his work and has wanted to help people since he was a child. His story is one that reLects many South African realities. He was born in a rural area, raised in a metropolitan township, and remains residing in a township space. From here he has been deployed around the country. He was invited to share stories because of the role that he, like other front line workers, has played whilst trying to save both lives and livelihoods.

FRUIT, YOGHURT, HEALTH “The hospital was short-staed and under-resourced because there had In Nelson Mandela Bay, I was serving in a ward at Dora Ngiza Hospital. been a break in and lots of PPE was stolen. One of the patients was in her 40s, and she couldn’t breathe. She was on hi-ow oxygen. She was very distressed. She was a single mother of a 16-year-old, who she was so, so worried about. The child was staying with her grandmother while she was in hospital. There was no money because the patient worked at a place where you had to be there to be paid, so being in hospital meant no money was coming in. She got so stressed that she became depressed and then she wouldn’t eat because, you know, hospitals don’t always have your choice of food. With the hi-ow oxygen, not eating, and depression, I was really worried about her. I said, “Hey, what would you eat?” She told me she was craving fruit and yoghurt, so I bought it for her with my stipend and she managed to eat that. Food from outside isn’t allowed, you know, but when it’s to save a person’s life, I just thought I had to. And because of her worry, I got the daughter ’s number, and I sent her R500 in Shoprite vouchers so that the mother could focus on getting better. In the end, she recovered.

“

FLAVOURS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

In the wards in Cape Town, the doctors were always coming in with muïns. Between one another on the medical sta, those muïns made a dierence! In Khayelitsha, there was one colleague who was in charge of the doctors; she helped us a lot, especially for those of us on the nursing team. When our supervisor got sick and was admitted to the same hospital with Covid-19, it was quite stressful. We had so much work, but she encouraged us. She’d say, “Wow guys, this is hard. But let’s do it.” You know, as nurses and doctors, it’s our job.

“