Reconnecting, reminiscing, and reaching out. The St Anne’s Class of 2006 is celebrating their milestone reunion by opening doors for the next generation of girls through the Mandisa Fund.

Hilton, South Africa (06 April 2026) – School reunions stir a sense of curious excitement, offering the chance to reconnect with old friends and peers from your early years. It is a time for reflecting on past adventures and the dreams planted back then, while sharing the accomplishments and experiences of the present.

As the Class of 2006 prepares to celebrate its 20-year reunion later this year, the alumnae of St Anne’s Diocesan College are marking the milestone with more than just memories.

Raising a Million for Future St Annes Girls

Together, they have decided to pave the way for the next generation by setting an ambitious goal: to raise R1 million for the school’s recently launched Mandisa Fund, a bursary created to support daughters of Facilities Staff and exceptional girls from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands community who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend the school.

The Fund is named in honour of Mandisa Penny Ntloko-Petersen, the first Black girl to matriculate from St Anne’s in 1985 and represents both progress and purpose. It stands as a powerful symbol of how far the school – and South Africa – has come, while acknowledging the work still to be done to expand access to quality education.

The Class of 2006 has embraced the challenge with energy and creativity. Alumnae are undertaking a variety of fundraising initiatives, including running marathons, open-water swims, hosting community sporting events and other charity gatherings, and asking friends and family to donate in lieu of birthday or celebration gifts!

In addition to these individual efforts, the class is actively seeking corporate sponsors to partner in reaching – and hopefully exceeding – the R1 million target. Since launching their campaign, the class has already raised 5% of their goal, an encouraging start that reflects strong early support.

“We know that R1 million is a bold target,” says the organising committee.

“But we believe in the power of community. If each of us does something – whether it’s running a race, hosting a small event, or making a donation – together we can make a life-changing difference.”

A Call to Join a Cause that Matters

The Class of 2006 is calling on fellow alumnae, South African businesses, families and friends of St Anne’s, to join the movement. Contributions of any size will help unlock opportunities for deserving young women in the local Midlands community.

Supporters can donate directly via the campaign page or get involved by sponsoring an event or partnering as a corporate donor.

As reunion plans gather momentum, the class hopes to celebrate not only 20 years of friendship but also the knowledge that their milestone has created meaningful change for generations to come.

To learn more about the Mandisa Fund or to contribute to the Class of 2006 campaign, please visit the fundraising page or email lize.hartley@insead.edu.

Sources: Supplied

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Or catch an episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque or our Weekly Top 5 below. The videos here are always changing, updated with the latest episodes from these two shows. Both are part of Good Things TV, created to bring South Africans balance at a time when the news can feel overwhelmingly negative. Our goal is simple: to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in our country – and to leave you feeling a little more proudly South African. 

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Bright Star is back on the road with her dad, her best friend Feisty, and her family of show dogs, after a farmer’s sharp eyes cracked her missing case.

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (19 March 2026) – A big star in Lloyd’s sky is Bright, a Sheltie who is as clever as she is sweet. Usually, she performs alongside her best friend, a toy poodle named Feisty, in The Incredible Dog Show.

Together they do all kinds of cute tricks, like driving a little car and jumping over each other.

Lloyd and his happy hounds’ show shines the light on responsible pet ownership, along with music and comedy with jaw-dropping doggie tricks performed by a family with multiple National Champions and Guinness World Records to their names!

Bright is one of the family’s newest members, who turns 10-months-old today!

“She’s super intelligent, she is slightly quiet as a breed,” her dad Lloyd says. “She’s slow to check out strangers but once she knows them, she’s very loving and sweet and playful.”

It was that natural shyness that likely kept her safe when things went wrong…

The drama began on a trip from Hillcrest toward Ladysmith. After an early morning start to make it to an educational school performance on time, Lloyd stopped in Hilton to let the dogs stretch their legs and get some sun. A while later, he pulled over for a quick bathroom break himself.

“I made a little roadside stop and I got out of the car, Bright slipped out the car without me noticing,” Lloyd explains.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Too quick for Lloyd to notice. Because his dogs are so well-behaved and quiet in the back seat, he didn’t realise anything was wrong until he arrived at the school, a half-hour later.

“I got to the school where we’d be performing and I knew the dogs would have a chance to walk, go to the loo and run around there, I’ve been there many times before over the years,” Lloyd says.

But when he went to let the team out for their pre-show run, Bright wasn’t there…

“I couldn’t go through with the show without Bright. The school was understanding of what my dogs mean to me, and I drove straight out to go look for her.”

The search was stressful. Lloyd combed the roadsides, battling the fear of what he might find.

“The fortunate thing is that I didn’t find her lying on the side of the road where I had travelled earlier. It was a blessing to know that she was fine.”

Burning through a full tank of diesel, Lloyd wasn’t giving up. At one point, he even enlisted the help of his pointer, Dash, who took him for a hopeful run through the veld, leading his dad to believe he had picked up Bright’s scent.

“My one dog, his name is Dash, he’s a pointer and he’s got a really good nose. He was crying when I was calling Bright quite urgently, and was like, ‘Dad, I’ll help you.’ So I thought, okay, that’s a good idea.”

While Dash tried his best, the breakthrough came from the Ladysmith community. As the news spread like wildfire on social media, a local farmer named Amy saw the message and pin-drop shared by Lloyd’s nephew on a WhatsApp group, and realised the search area was right next to her farm.

At that stage, Lloyd had switched from his car to his bicycle to cover more ground in his search for Bright.

“And while I was cycling, a lady called Amy phoned me up, she’s a local farmer,” Lloyd recalls. “She came out and looked, and then she saw Bright.”

Because Bright is so shy, she wouldn’t go to a stranger, but Amy’s quick thinking to call Lloyd immediately and stay on the scene made all the difference. When Lloyd arrived, he found his star right back at the original spot where she had hopped out, waiting for her dad.

The reunion was a massive relief for The Incredible Dog Show family! Lloyd is back on the road now, but he’ll be holding his pack a little closer. He wants to extend a massive thank you to everyone who shared the posts and especially to Amy, whose sharp eyes brought Bright Star home.

Sources: GTG Interview.

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Or catch an episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque or our Weekly Top 5 below. The videos here are always changing, updated with the latest episodes from these two shows. Both are part of Good Things TV, created to bring South Africans balance at a time when the news can feel overwhelmingly negative. Our goal is simple: to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in our country – and to leave you feeling a little more proudly South African. 

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A second essay from the Hilton College learner who earned 100% for his creative writing and over a million reads!

Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal (17 March 2026) – Last year, a Grade 11 learner named Guy Fender from Hilton College wrote a fictional essay about grief. His school, Hilton College, shared it online, and it went viral instantly.

It earned him 100%, over a million readers on social media and something even rarer – a chorus of strangers begging him to never stop writing.

“Last year, Guy Fender achieved a remarkable 100% for a piece of creative writing that reached more than 1.2 million readers on social media, with many calling for more of his work.” shared Hilton College recently.

This week, the school shared a second essay from their extraordinary student. This time, the subject is about being dropped from a rugby team, but in essence, it’s a meditation on identity, effort, and what happens when the thing you’ve built your life around closes its door on you.

“People think being dropped feels like a punch. It doesn’t. It feels like someone gently closing a door while you’re still talking.”

Beyond a command of imagery, the emotional intelligence underneath Guy’s writing shows that he has a gift for words, far beyond his years.

Readers have again responded in their thousands.

“This is the first real gift of writing I’ve read in a long time,” wrote one commenter. “You can reach inside people and lift out the meaning they did not know how to reach themselves,” wrote another.

A former rugby player said he related on every level. A mother said she was sending it to her sons.

Someone said: “A rugby player’s career lasts between 1 and 15 years. A writer’s lasts a lifetime.”

The essay, titled All Balloons Come Back Down, was published by the school two days ago and has been shared over 450 times on social media already, with thousands of comments and likes.

What struck us about this one is the honesty but also the hope it ends in. Our protagonist’s boots are still muddy, and he’s not where he thought he’d be. But the last line signals that things might be okay, and that’s a harder thing to write than triumph.

“I wasn’t done. I wasn’t finished. I just wasn’t where I thought I’d be. And for the first time, that felt like something I might be able to carry.”

If his first essay met you in your grief, this one will meet you in your disappointment.

Read the full essay below. (or here if you cannot see the post below).

Sources: Linked above.

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Do you have something to add to this story? Please share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens, or share your good news with us by clicking here or click the link below to listen to the Good Things Guy Podcast with Brent Lindeque – South Africa’s very own Good Things Guy. He’s on a mission to change what the world pays attention to, and he truly believes there’s good news around us. In the Good Things Guy podcast, you’ll meet these everyday heroes and hear their incredible stories:

Or catch an episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque or our Weekly Top 5 below. The videos here are always changing, updated with the latest episodes from these two shows. Both are part of Good Things TV, created to bring South Africans balance at a time when the news can feel overwhelmingly negative. Our goal is simple: to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in our country – and to leave you feeling a little more proudly South African. 

The post Remember the Hilton College Boy Whose Essay Went Viral? He’s Written Another. appeared first on Good Things Guy.

This essay, written by a grade 11 learner in KZN, is one of the most powerful and raw things you’ll read this week.

Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal (11 September 2025) – Hilton College is beaming with pride this week after Grade 11 learner Guy Fender wrote an English essay so beautiful it earned him a rare 100%.

It’s going viral now, with over 2000 shares and 10,000 likes on social media.

It’s the kind of storytelling that makes you stop in your socks.

At just 17, Guy managed to write with the kind of honesty and restraint that usually comes with years of experience. His essay explores grief, memory and the nuanced complexities of family.

“The hospice nurse called just after dawn, voice soft, rehearsed. I could hear birds outside her window. Too bright for the hour. ‘Your mother passed sometime in the night,’ she said. ‘We think around three a.m.’ But that wasn’t the first call I’d missed. I didn’t tell her that. Just said thank you, scribbled ‘dead’ next to Mum’s name on a grocery list which I wasn’t going to finish, and made a cup of tea.”

Guy’s fictional essay tells the story of a boy coming to terms with the death of his mom after her battle with cancer. It’s told in small, everyday details. The way grief so often shows up in real life.

What strikes hardest is how a grade 11 learner knows how to so gracefully balance tenderness with bluntness. Scribbling ‘dead’ on a grocery list, or muttering ‘you win’ at sea. These little details cut more deeply than melodrama ever could.

“I took her ashes to the beach last weekend. Wore the cracked shoes again. It rained, of course. Wind smacked me in the face like it knew who I was. I walked to the end of the pier and opened the cheap plastic urn. ‘You win,’ I muttered. It wasn’t dramatic. The ashes just kind of hung in the air for a second before blowing sideways, sticking to my sleeves and the inside of my mouth. Like salt. I stood there for a long time. Didn’t cry. Didn’t move. Just stood.”

It speaks to something universal. Loss, love, and the often complicated ways we remember those closest to us.

And perhaps most of all, it makes you feel hopeful. If this is what a South African high school learner is producing, the future of storytelling is in very good hands.

Read the full piece below.

Sources: Linked above

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Do you have something to add to this story? Please share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook & Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens, or share your good news with us by clicking here or click the link below to listen to the Good Things Guy Podcast with Brent Lindeque – South Africa’s very own Good Things Guy. He’s on a mission to change what the world pays attention to, and he truly believes there’s good news around us. In the Good Things Guy podcast, you’ll meet these everyday heroes & hear their incredible stories:

Or watch an episode of Good Things TV below, a show created to offer South Africans balance in a world with what feels like constant bad news. We’re here to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in South Africa & we’ll leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.

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Moved by a schoolmate’s tragic loss to GBV, Duncan Van Niekerk is using his passion for tennis to make a tangible difference in the fight against a silent struggle.

Hilton, South Africa (01 July 2025) – Deeply moved by the vital work Angels’ Care in Howick does in supporting survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), a Grade 10 Hilton learner, Duncan Van Niekerk, has taken it upon himself to stand in solidarity with the charity by playing with purpose.

From 8 to 13 July, Duncan will be playing a 5-day tennis tournament, not just for the win, but to raise awareness and funds for Angels’ Care, thereby fighting the silent yet prevalent struggle that is GBV.

He was also especially saddened by one of his fellow schoolmates who recently lost both his niece and his aunt in the same week due to GBV.

“I am doing this campaign because ever since I was young, I have seen many people in pain and/or suffering in our country, and I want to do something about it,” Duncan said.

Duncan hasn’t yet hit the court, but his mission is already off to a resounding success. Through a Sport for Lives crowdfunding campaign, the teen who set out to raise R10,000 has successfully exceeded that goal, with current contributions totalling over R14,300.

Angels’ Care is uniquely focused on caring for children of abuse in the Howick area in the KZN Midlands within the Umngeni local municipality. The Centre provides children and their caregivers with access to every form of assistance they would require in the event of their being victims of any form of gender-based violence.

Duncan’s efforts to support this vital work are not only inspiring but will make a significant difference in uplifting troubled lives, giving them the hope, healing and encouragement to move forward.

To support his cause, visit his campaign here.

Sources: Sport for Lives

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Or watch an episode of Good Things TV below, a show created to offer South Africans balance in a world with what feels like constant bad news. We’re here to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in South Africa & we’ll leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.

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Community organisation Hilton Buddies is on a mission to make life better and safer for the elderly in their village. Here’s how they’re making a difference and how you can be a part of it!

Hilton, South Africa (09 February 2025) — Hilton seniors are surrounded by an army of angels thanks to community organisation Hilton Buddies. On a mission to make life better and safer for locals in their golden years, this volunteer-focused crew undertake unsung, treasured work!

While the Hilton Buddies support seniors in a multitude of ways both for the mind and body ranging from social events to activity groups, a big part of what the organisation does is keeping seniors safe.

With help from their volunteer friends part of the Hilton Security initiative and the Hilton Security Rapid Response Unit who work with SAPs, Hilton Buddies helps blanket seniors with protection.

Hilton Buddies help contribute to Hilton Security whose volunteers help patrol the streets and support the local police who are under-powered as Matt Cowell, Hilton Community Police Forum Chairman explains per the local Village Talk. Hilton Buddies act as a bridge between the elderly and their security needs, activating the response team should they be required.

“When it is late at night, and we have a panic call from one of our Buddies that are hurt in any way…or have an intruder in the house…or a family member calls from abroad to say they cannot get hold of their elderly mom/dad…that is when we activate the Rapid Response Team. Within minutes we have help at hand,” Hilton Buddies explain.

Beyond the safety, there’s a lot of joy, purpose and sense of community that the Buddies ensure their seniors are afforded.

As the organisation grows and its impact increases, those who have a soft spot for the elderly are encouraged to join their network of volunteers.

“If you live in Hilton, have a vehicle, have the means to make phonecalls and care about the seniors in Hilton and your community… then this is for YOU!” encourage the team.

Those interested can give Hilton Buddies a shout on 082 373 1708.

Sources: Hilton Buddies 

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Or watch an episode of Good Things TV below, a show created to offer South Africans balance in a world with what feels like constant bad news. We’re here to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in South Africa & we’ll leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.

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