This past weekend I felt deeply touched and overwhelmed with emotion.

What started as a normal job for me, ended up with in a much-needed lesson and motivation.

It all started on Friday night when I went to cover the South National Blood Service clinic controller dinner at the Benoni Country Club.

At first, it seemed like any other dinner that I have been to, where my job would just be to capture the moment and relay it to the community.

As a journalist, I have seen and been to the worst scenarios and the lie that I always reassure to myself is that there is nothing that could possibly come close to shaking my emotions.

In my line of work, I have seen numerous dead bodies, enough blood to start a stream, bodies trapped in cars at accidents and fatalities.

It has become difficult for me to express myself when I become emotional as I’m so used to pretending that I don’t feel a thing.

My job has made me very good at overcoming emotions before they could even corner me.

But this past weekend has been one long emotional roller-coaster for me.

At the blood dinner, a 19-year-old girl took to the podium to relate her story.

She is a cancer survivor diagnosed at the age of five with Acute Myeloblastic Leukaemia (AML).

She just wanted reassure blood donors of the wonderful job they do as many probably never hear what happens to their blood donations.

“Please remember without your helping aiding the donations of blood and platelet transfusions I would not be here today,” she said.

She continued: “In 2001 after being diagnosed I had 21 red blood and 13 platelet transfusions in the first year.”

Her point was that she was never going to survive if there were no blood donors.

I have always thought that blood that is donated goes only to people who lost blood as a result of being involved in accidents.

But I learned that the majority of donated blood goes to people with cancer, as well as people who have suffered burns or those undergoing surgery.

The lesson for me was that I have never donated blood before and I don’t quite know why so being there gave me the courage to start thinking hard about donating blood and overcoming any fear standing in my way.

Then the next day, I went to cover a drug campaign in Daveyton.

It also seemed just like any other job until one recovering drug addict took to the podium to tell his tale and warn kids against using illegal substances.

It pained to learn that a father who’s supposed to care for his family can resort to stealing his children’s toys and even kitchen utensils just to feed his addiction.

He became an extremely useless father and a liability to his family, so to say.

Lesson two for me was to also contribute to the fight against illegal substances.

I also learned that when people are struggling with drug addiction, sobriety can seem like an impossible goal.

But recovery is never out of reach, no matter how hopeless one’s situation seems.

Change is possible with the right treatment and support, and by addressing the root cause of one’s addiction.

People need to be encouraged not to give up—even if they have tried and failed before.

The road to recovery often involves bumps, pitfalls, and setbacks.

And then on Sunday, I went to cover the winter charity walk blanket drive at the Korsman Bird Sanctuary in

Lakefied, where participants where asked to bring a blanket or a jersey to be donated to those in need.

There was a great turnout and before long, blankets and jerseys piled up.

Then I imagined that there are people who sleep outside in the cold night after night, without the comfort of family and friends or even a blanket.

This is a reality that exists and sometimes, we get so caught up in our own lives that it’s easy to turn a blind eye to someone in need, and walk right past them.

It opened my eyes that donating a blanket to someone who has none will help keep him or her warm and comfortable during cold nights.

Every year, homeless die on the streets of hypothermia, something that could be avoided if they had the means – like a warm blanket.

For someone who is homeless, who is constantly ignored by others, just the gesture of giving them a blanket will remind them of the kindness that exists in the world, and reassure that person of their own self worth.

Indeed if we act as if what we do makes a difference, it does. MM