WINNING LETTER

FROM JOY TO SADNESS

I was privileged to attend the Springboks match against the All Blacks recently. Oh my word! Such excitement, camaraderie and national pride. The highlights were the plane flying over (I nearly fell off my chair), the singing of the national anthem (hoarse voices and leaking eyes everywhere) and the game, of course.

Afterwards the stadium burst onto the streets and fans spilled out. With expected traffic jams as shuttles and taxis sat gridlocked in their spots, we stood in the CBD streets and experienced an environment unfamiliar to us, the stuff you only read about. You know it exists, but it’s removed from our own reality.

Young kids, not yet teenagers, dirty, wearing threadbare T-shirts on this freezing night, asking for coins; a baby, not even walking yet, sitting alone on the cold concrete pavement (police had to intervene);