STRONG, BRAVE & TRUE

We salute the everyday heroes who are keeping South Africa going

- JODY-LYNN TAYLOR

THEY’RE the people who’ve kept the country going while the rest of us have been holed up at home in a bid to escape a virus that shows no mercy.

The people who’ve had to tamp down their own fears and put on a brave face in order to tend to the sick, serve the hungry, protect the vulnerable.

The men and women who stand on the forecourt of petrol stations at all hours of the day and night, ready to fill up our vehicles. The police officers who risk ridicule and violence when they try to clear the streets of groups of people. The bus drivers and taxi drivers who ferry people to work, to the shops, to the hospitals.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa so aptly put it in one of his moving addresses to the nation, “You are our unsung heroes and we salute you.”

Here are some of the heroes who’ve kept the wheels turning in SA while everything else has ground to a halt.

KARIENYA KASVALU (32), DOCTOR

It’s been an emotional time for the young Cape Town doctor.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, disappointment and frustration in not knowing what to tell patients [about the virus] when I don’t know what the answers are,” she says.

On top of this there are days when she feels lonely because she can’t be with her family.

“But I have wonderful nursing staff who I can count on,” she adds.

The public have also been supportive and she finds their appreciation heartening.