Jessica Byrnes
Midrand

Your enthusiasm and genuine quest for a philanthropic movement to thrive as the cutting edge of a nation-in-the-making is compelling, crystal clear and inspiring. While I have an almost spontaneous aversion to the very word “philanthropy” (probably comes from my Afrikaans upbringing) the neat and precise manner in which you unpack your vision makes me, and hopefully many others reading your article, stand still and think. And not veer off with blunted disappointed life experiences with negative and responses. But then the latter, like beggars, we will always have with us.

Your article is water tight and though long, it requires no further fleshing out. You say everything coherently and straight forward. Above all your enthusiasm spills over the brim.
One feels converted rather than wanting to give the response of “you have convinced me”. One either goes with the vision, as I hope many are, or one sniffs a bit and gives a rather rude and jaundiced response as one of the writers above (Taxman).

Having said this you would not think that it is spoken by some one with an inbred aversion to the word “philanthropists”. But my own long walk in life has taught me one fundamental thing. No master what others do to you, especially in response to good motives, never let that hurt you. Never feel offended by remarks meant to put out that little flame from the soul. I have also learnt never to pigeon hole people, not least myself or you. Doing that in fact is the platform for racial thinking and prejudice.

What you are doing and propagating is armed by its implicit truth and logic. Doing good works is good and well. One has to put a recognize the ubiquitous idolatry of greed and not become a victim thereof. One has to live what one preaches, one has to become the sort of person that Mother Theresa was. While there is only one Mother Theresa exemplifying her is fact means there are many. One has to give unconditionally to those who ask unconditionally.

I like what you are on about and sincerely hope that your bread baskets arte filled by hundreds, nay thousands of South African from all walks and colours of life. There are special things that can only be done by special people working people-to-people and you are one of them.

Carry on the good work you are doing!

There is need to develop methodologies that can be applied to assist philanthropy to succeed. Some studies have indicated that India is one of the few countries that we can learn from about community participation in these social projects.

On the CSI programme, the people who manage these initiatives need to go out to the community and stay there for a week in order to understand the behaviour of the society they sponsor. This will help CSI programmes to develop mutual strategies to meet the expectations of the community and that of a company that sponsors the programme.

You make self-sacrifices. You offer your time and effort to help bring changes and improvements to the less-fortunate.

And then you are called “paternalistic” and you are expected to willingly endure the sneers of contempt for your life’s work from the ingrates you’ve tried to uplift?

Better not to even bother. Let these eternal moaning minnies find their own salvation.

Congratulations to Edgar Droste on his Inyalethu award: a humble south african who will never hear the loud, public worship of the sort we saffies gave to Oprah, although his decades of contributing to education in this country way exceed her R300k. Sadly, Edgar lacks the bling that we so love before all else.

My thoughts on Philanthropy in SA: where the craving for material status exists the desire to help others WILL remain absent. The two are mutually exclusive: if you crave bling, by default, you despise those who are ‘have nots’.

Philanthropy, in local terms, is Ubuntu. Once the average Saffie has escaped poverty and joined the upwardly mobile middle classes Ubuntu becomes expendable in favour of self-expenditure.

Saffies are notoriously materialistic, a national characteristic that has ‘blossomed’ with our new democracy; which is why we are far less inclined to helping those in need than we were under apartheid.