My
story begins on the 6th of May 2020 and our 40th day in lock down.
See in South Africa we are now on Level 4 that allows certain sectors of the
economy to reopen and start their new “normal” with masks and sanitizer being part of their
new existence.
During
any normal year I would be somewhere in the bush with clients surrounded by the
beauty of God’s creation sharing my knowledge and love for the wildlife that
only Africa can offer to any international or local visitor. I would get a sense of
satisfaction & pride when I make the people smile and laugh telling them
stories about the animals, birds and proud history of all Southern African
tribes.
But
not today. Today I am behind my laptop studying the art of social media and
e-commerce online in an attempt; like many others in my industry; to start
over until we can all travel again.
For most of my fellow South Africans COVID_19 became a reality in the middle of March when our president addressed the nation closing some of our borders
& asking everybody to stay home to improve social distancing. My reality
looked a bit different as other countries before us starting putting the same
measures in place at the end of February and therefore tourists stopped coming
long before our own #Stay-at-home campaign started.
Although
some clients understood the situation we all found ourselfs in and postponed, most cancelled
and demanded refunds. It was during that time that I saw how irrelevant a long
time business partnership really is as wealthy clients demanded in almost a
rude manor that all their bookings are refunded immediately without any
understanding of what is about to happen around the globe.
It
was also during that same time where new friendships were formed and the first
phone calls and e-mails of verbal support started and that is something I will treasure forever and realised that the amount of followers or friends will never compare to the quallity of your followers or friends.
The
day before lock down we sat down with our domestic worker and explained to her
what is going to happen and gave her not only her normal salary but also some
money that we had extra for the time after that, as we did not know at that stage for how long this new unknown
will last or what a huge impact it will have on all of us. You could see the
fear on our domestic worker’s face as she clearly could not understand that us, that became part of her family is now asking her to stay away.
I
obeyed by the laws by staying at home and started online interviews with
different role-players and modern day influencers on social media to understand
my current situation better. Then came the extension of our 21 day lock down
but with that also some form of hope for the future as our president announced a
financial relief fund for the tourism industry. We as a industry became a bit
less discouraged and although we knew our industry will be the last to open we
tried to promote and stay visible while securing better deals and prices for
all our future clients both domestic and international.
The
first major set back came with the announcement of our local airline, South
African airlines not being able to continue due to financial reasons. The final
nail and the turning point for most was the announcement from our minister of
the department of tourism that the financial relief that was promised
by our president just a week before will firstly be available to companies that are owned and run
by non-white Africans & women.
This
announcement and the verdict of our local justice system to agree with her
caused more harm for unity in our beloved country than any past action of the
last 26 years could ever do. Many took to social media to make their anger and
disagreements heard. It was at this time that I stopped being active on
platforms like Facebook and only using it to encourage others during this time, to promote my company and starting my campaign
of #BeTheDifference.
Now
this campaign is not “trending” anywhere and probably never will but it was a decision for myself that
I can either be part of the problem or part of the solution.
In the next
couple of days my garden worker gave me a call and the conversation started with
“I am hungry sir”. I arranged to meet him the next morning and bring him some
relief in the form of food but he advised me that I should meet him at a public
place as it was not safe to enter his rural area with a vehicle full of food as
there are so many others that had nothing to eat for days and might take that opportunity
to attack my vehicle in a desperate need to get food.
We
met as he instructed in a public place and as I handed him the food and masks
and gloves for him and his wife and their child he began crying and this man
that I have known for many years and stayed with me during my financial ups and
downs broke down in front of me and made me realise that what ever problems I
might be facing in the future will not come close to what others are
experiencing out there at this moment.
I
returned home to my family and a new appreciation on what we have and what we like so many others take for granted every day.
I
continued with my #BeTheDifference campaign on social media platforms without
anybody commenting anything on that specific hashtag and it felt like I did not
make a difference.
Then I received a phone call from my neighbours (A wonderful ethnic woman and her husband) She asked me to meet her outside as she had
something to give to me. Once outside she handed me a bottle of red wine and as
the selling of alcohol in South Africa is not allowed during stage 5 or 4 this
was a big deal and more than just a friendly gestor as she could have kept it
to herself for own consumption. We returned the favour with freshly baked
cookies and before we knew it a couple of products were moved between our two households.
I do understand that I may never understand your personal situation or what you and your loved ones are going through. One thing I do know is that I am not naive about our current situation and take it very serious because of facts I gathered on what I can change and not on what is said to us through social media or our goverment but after I received the news yesterday that one of our long time clients passed away because of the COVID_19 virus I am more certain than ever that somebody need to read this and make a decition today with me on our road forward during this epidemic.
Today
I have no idea what the future hold for me, my family, my business or my
country but one thing I know now more than ever is that if we take responsibility
for actions without the outside influence of media, social media or political propaganda
and we stop complaining for one day about what we do not have or did not receive
from people or organisations that we have no control over and start being the
difference we want to see by finding a solution in your business, your relationship with your partner and your relationship with Christ we will be ok after all this has past and
maybe just maybe you will find your smile again in the person that is fighting the same battle as you irregardless of his or her status, financial worth, number of followers and even background.
#BeTheDifference
No comments:
Post a Comment