My Perspective

Every so often I hear people say that they don’t read newspapers because they are “depressing and only full of bad news”. It is easy to understand where this view comes from and (interestingly enough) it is the so called “hard news” stories that consistently get the most readership on our online news platforms – which, as an aside, broke another record with over 200,000 readers in April.
At The Courier we work very hard at breaking this stereotype. We are 90% ‘good news’ and in every edition we go out of our way to celebrate the little guys and find the beautiful, the creative and the inspiring for our readers. Most journalists got into the profession because they were idealists who wanted to change the world. This profession will quickly knock some realism into you, but as a species, journalists refuse to let go of their belief that we can make a difference.
As a community paper I believe that aside from our primary role of giving a voice to the underdog and fighting for justice to be done, we must reflect back to our readers the incredible richness, diversity and beauty of the community we live in. The more I read the more I fall in love with the Dolphin Coast.

There are so many extra-ordinary people all around us.

Looking back over the past few weeks I particularly loved the story about the Good Samaritan who responded to Sizani Combined School’s plea through our paper for the money to build a new classroom. Thank you for your generosity. I was inspired by the story of Ballito’s Colleen Black who has reduced her household waste from one bag a week to one bag a year! Challenged by the tenacity of local runner Harry Botha, who at 75 became the oldest man on earth to join the illustrious Marathon Grand Slam Club by running a marathon on all seven continents. My heart broke for the Mandeni woman who shared her story of genital mutilation as a child. Well done for standing up against this barbaric practice. I hope your courage will protect many young girls from the same fate. Then in this edition there’s the inspiring story of Nkobongo’s Phiwankosi Nene, how he started his own business from so little and made it successful through hard work and a rare ‘never say die’ entrepreneurial spirit. It’s people like Phiwankosi and the others who make this community great.
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Last week I was treated to lunch at Turn n Tender in the Ballito Junction. Hats off to them for supporting Vision 153. The restaurant held an unbelievable special in honour of their birthday with a 300g Sirloin steak for only R40 and patrons were encouraged to donate R20 or more to the charity. This was wonderful timing as we had just published an article about the terrible accident in which the charity’s only vehicle was written-off. They need all the help they can get to purchase a new ride as there are many, many in dire straits who depend on them daily.
My husband and I shared a snail starter served in a brandy, garlic butter and cream sauce. I loved this twist on the traditional and while the garlic was quite strong you could still enjoy a distinct snail flavour. For our main we took the Cut For Two 700g rump steak with two sides and two sauces. I love the theater of this dish. The manager, Vaughn, carved the impressive side of rump at our table and I’m almost embarrassed to say we polished off the entire dish (I blame Pieter). But what really blew me away was the Bordelaise sauce with marrow bones, mushrooms ‘n port. I took this as an extra because I just had to try it and it really rounded the meal off perfectly. We have been there before and will certainly visit again. Ballito just keeps dishing up more and more choice for us fortunate people that live in this beautiful part of the world!