Die vraag waarmee ek deesdae worstel, is hoe kry ons mense om meer te gee as wat hulle wil hê? Om in plaas van hand uitsteek om te ontvang, hand uit die mou steek om iets te doen. ‘n Moeilike ene, hoor ek jou sê.
Miskien is die antwoord: Van kleins af?
Ek weet maar al te goed daar is individue wat prysenswaardige dinge doen, maar dit voel of die meeste mense net besig is om bymekaar te maak in plaas daarvan om weg te gee. Nie dat daar fundamenteel iets mee verkeerd is om vir jouself te sorg nie, maar om om te sien na ander wat minder as jy het, bly tog ’n kardinale verantwoordelikheid van elke mens.
Ek sê nou die dag vir ‘n klomp matrieks op hul matriekkamp dat dit vir my lyk of ’n mens eers iets moet verloor voor jy iets uitsonderliks begin doen.
Want dit is mense soos Nick Vujicic, Hein Wagner, Natalie du Toit en Jessica Cox wat dinge laat gebeur. Dit is hulle wat sonder sig, arms en bene die hoogste berge klim en die vinnigste voertuie trotseer om ander te help.
Ashley behind the camera.
En iemand soos Ashley Kaimowitz… Hier volg ’n uittreksel van haar aangrypende verhaal soos vertel deur Carte Blanche:
Summer in Cape Town six years ago… and for 19-year-old Ashley Kaimowitz, the world was her oyster. Popular, talented and full of hope for the future, she was about to go to film school in Australia on a scholarship.
Then came the news that every parent dreads…
Ashley was killed by a drunk driver while driving to her home in Sea Point.
Losing a daughter and a sister was devastating. But beyond their grief, Ashley had left a legacy which would reach into other people’s lives for years to come.
Three years earlier, when she was 16, Ashley had been on a school trip to Khayelitsha organized by the local Rotary club. The school girls had met with community leader, Nocawe Mankayi, who had responded to a desperate need for help in her abuse-ridden area.
On the day the school girls arrived to visit the centre, Nocawe had been helping a little girl who had been brutally raped. She relayed the story to them, moving Ashley and her fellow pupils to tears.
Nocawe: You know they were all crying. And there was this particular child, who was Ashley, who said: Today, I’m taking a decision in terms of curbing the abuse of children in Khayelitsha.
Despite no film experience, Ashley was determined to raise awareness of the situation by making a documentary. She raised a thousand rand, rallied her friends together and took to the streets of Khayelitsha with camera in hand.
She called her documentary Uthando labantwana – For the love of our children.
During October 2005 Carte Blanch picked up on Ashley’s story. She knew Nocawe needed to raise funds for a new centre. Nocawe’s dream was to build a proper counseling center, with a safe house, a clinic and counseling rooms.
Support poured in from Carte Blanche viewers.
In April 2008 the Nonceba Family Counselling Centre was opened. That October, it was dedicated to the memory of Ashley Kaimowitz.
Kom ons leer ons kinders, en al die kinders aan ons sorg toevertrou, dat dit beter is om te gee as om te ontvang. Dat dit nóg beter is om jou hande in nat sement te druk om ’n huis te bou as om net jou geld in die bussie te gooi. Dat dit die beste is om sonder iets klaar te kom omdat jy iets vir iemand anders gegee het wat dit nodiger as jy het.
Uthando labantwana!
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. – Maya Angelou
I hate the giving of the hand unless the whole man accompanies it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do. – Khalil Gibran
Photo: Steven Yafa