In honour of Mother’s Day, a video of a University graduate is going viral online of him showing appreciation to his late grandmother at her workplace to pay homage for all her sacrifices.
The video of Anthony Timoteus from Bellville is making the rounds online with the background music of Wimpee’s Afrikaans rendition of The Lord bless you and keep you.
The video has received 1.8 million views and shows Anthony walking to a workplace full of rubble dressed in his cap and gown as he surprises his grandmother at work who is overjoyed with happiness.
The two spend a moment hugging each other while his grandmother sheds tears of happiness as the werkmense look on.
Anthony, 29 says that the video was actually taken in 2022 when he graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Education at the University of the Western Cape but only posted the video online on last Wednesday evening.
He says: “The motivation behind the video was because my granny was hard working and never wanted to stay out of work as she was the breadwinner. So I decided to go to her place of work because she was the person who supported me financially during my time on university."
Anthony is also an athlete and says he was on a sports bursary which only covered his tuition fees and he was able to get accommodation with the help of his coach
"I had to supply my own meals and that is where my grandmother helped me with a R100 every week to contribute to groceries with my roommates.
She was consistent, her contribution was little but it meant a lot to me because I knew that she did not earn a lot of money but she helped me at a time when I needed it the most. She was also my motivation for not giving up and graduating was very rewarding especially to see her smile and tears of joy.”
Anthony said that his grandmother, Aletha Muller passed away last year and he misses his ‘biggest cheerleader’ a lot.
He adds: “I never had the opportunity to mourn her passing.
"That night I was going through the video on repeat and kept crying so I decided to post it and when I woke up the next morning the video blew up which I did not expect.
"I hope that my video and story will inspire the youth especially young men. With all the gender-based violence that is happening; mans moet vrouens op hulle hande dra en hulle respek.
"The young men are losing their lives prematurely because that is the tactics of the enemy.”