Sunday Times to highlight SA’s Real Heroes

Real Heroes will be profiling everyday yet admirable South Africans who are living and acting selflessly in the communities in which they live and work.

“The Sunday Times aims to grow and curate a culture of renewed optimism and shared pride by researching and reporting on the many, as yet untold, stories of unsung heroes in our communities,” says Susan Smuts, an editor at the Sunday Times who is closely involved with the project. “We want to acknowledge the many wonderful people who contribute in quiet but meaningful ways to our society, and encourage conversations that celebrate the positive and optimistic aspects of South Africa.”

Seasoned journalist Jan Willem Bornman; photographer Daylin Paul; and a team of videographers have been tasked with traversing the country to engage with communities about the heroes living amongst them. They started their travels in Mpumalanga and Limpopo and will be travelling through all nine provinces.

This weekend’s inspirational story was written in response to the call-to-action advertisement published in the Sunday Times in previous weeks: a mother and her adoptive daughter are doing great HIV and AIDS awareness work in northern Limpopo. Having started a créche from her mobile home, the mother now runs a school aimed at breaking down the stigma of the virus by mixing classes, encouraging a high standard of English literacy, and along with her daughter who was one of her first students, helps teach teenagers artisanal skills where they have fallen behind at school because of their health.

What does the Sunday Times Real Heroes campaign aim to achieve? Smuts says it is twofold; “To highlight the selfless people living amongst us who remind us of the good side of human nature; and to motivate fellow South African individuals and corporates to get involved as well.”

Follow Bornman and Paul on their roadtrip on Twitter using the #STRealHeroes hashtag. Fresh stories and weekly updates on past stories will appear every weekend in the Sunday Times.

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