A beautiful story hit social media right in the feels last week.
The story was about a Cape Town doctor who had been putting aside a portion of his retirement savings to build a house for his domestic worker.
The 54-year-old Lulama Gomana has been working for Dr Raoul Goldberg for the past 25 years and, in that time, he decided to help better her circumstances.
With the help of international NGO Habitat for Humanity, the house is being built in Delft, where Gomana lives with her six dependants.
It truly is a heart-warming story that teaches us that we can all do something to help a needy person close to us.
The story is especially touching because we live in a world where people tend to keep to themselves.
But as human beings, we all want to help where we can.
And every so often, you don’t have to go out of your way to find someone who can do with your help.
In the case of the lady who comes to do a few domestic chores for me once a week, I did just that, and discovered that she was leaving her young daughter alone at home when she came to work for me during the school holidays.
LIFE CHANGE: Lulama building house
Having young kids myself, I asked her to bring her daughter along as a playmate for them.
And every time she does, I make a point of including her daughter in whatever activities I may have planned, but I also thank her for bringing her child with her, which of course she finds very odd.
I tell you that story because I am learning that small gestures like that can have repercussions as big as helping someone get a house of their own.
Often the people in need are the ones whose job it is to make our lives a little easier.
And because their needs are often so basic, doing the same for them would generally not take a lot from us.
For example, do you know if the security guard at your office has had lunch today?
Being thoughtful towards someone would lift your own spirit and you would only sacrifice maybe your fast-food lunch.
And if we all helped another person in our lives, as often as we could, we may just be able to turn around this country.