A huge thank you to all those great people who answered our Mission Rescue SOS for toys and clothing for distressed White kiddies this last Christmas. Early in December I was terrified that we would not have enough to go round for the various Christmas parties we helped underwrite. But, by the time party time rolled round, the miracle had happened. Thanks to you out there, we had enough and to spare.

And thank you, too, for the many deliveries of clothing, shoes, sheets and blankets for our many unemployed Afrikaner families. No one knows for sure just how many workless there are in SA today, but the figure overall runs into millions. The position with many of the Whites is particularly desperate The depth of poverty we have uncovered, particularly with so many old age pensioners, is often truly heartbreaking.

Many of these people have lived good lives but are now too old and frail to work any longer to feed themselves. The old age pension, on paper, sounds fair enough, but not at today’s rentals. With so many old age homes in Johannesburg having closed because of reduced subsidies, and a great many others asking R2 000 a month or more, more and more old folk end up living in absolute squalor; and semi-starving, to boot.