Funny placards inspire Good Samaritan to buy a house for jobless dad

Funny placards inspire Good Samaritan to buy a house for jobless dad

- Lusindiso Malgas, who originally hails from the Eastern Cape, stood on the roads of Blouberg with hilarious signs to try and generate an income

- Malgas lost his job as a warehouse packer due to the pandemic and he needed a way to look after his family

- The witty signs caught the attention of a kind stranger, who has offered to build a house for the 27-year-old

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The Covid-19 pandemic has caused millions of South Africans to lose their jobs. Amongst those are 27-year-old father, Lusindiso Malgas. Malgas, who originally came from the Eastern Cape, lost his job as a warehouse packer. As a dad of three, Malgas had to come up with a way to generate income.

However, job hunting in the current economic climate is proving to be nearly impossible. So, Malgas decided that he needed to ask for help.

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Taking to the streets of Cape Town, the 27-year-old asked motorists for money. However, instead of begging using his tragic story, the dad made hilarious placards that put smiles on people's faces.

“When I lost my job, I was like what am I going to do? How am I going to survive? All I know is how to make people laugh and how to talk to people. I had no choice but to work and put food on the table” says Lusindiso.
Funny placards inspire Good Samaritan to buy a house for jobless dad
Jobless father of three, Lusindiso Malgas, has put smiles on the faces of motorists who pass him every day with his placards. Photo: Supplied
Source: Twitter

His warm personality and witty signs caught the attention of a kind man. Brendan Cottle, a 35-year-old business consultant, decided he wanted to help the father of three get back on his feet.

So, on 22 July, Cottle launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to build Malgas a house. The BackaBuddy campaign has thus far raised over R34 000 towards the fundraising goal of R250 000.

Not only will the house be a dream come true for Malgas, but it will also allow him to reunite with his children - who are currently living with their grandparents.

Funny placards inspire Good Samaritan to buy a house for jobless dad
Lusindiso Malgas with Good Samaritan, Brendan Cottle. Photo: Image Yes and Yes / Supplied.
Source: UGC

Cottle was quoted saying:

“Seeing Lusindiso’s smile brightened up my morning commute and I know the same can be said for many others. I am a very optimistic and positive person and when I saw Lu's smile and happiness to do what he was doing, made me think about his and the situation of others, especially during the country lockdown. I hope with this campaign, Lusindiso’s story can reach more people and that his positivity can circle the globe.”

Over 130 people -both locally and internationally - have contributed to Malgas' home.

He said:

“I would like to thank the Capetonians, as well as people across the country and overseas who have helped me and understood my situation. Those are the good people. I don’t know how I survived. But I did. God is great!”

Aside from building him a house, Cottle hopes to help Lusindiso launch a T-shirt business to help him support his family going forward. To make a donation towards Malgas' home, you can visit the crowdfunding campaign by clicking on the link here.

In other news, Briefly.co.za reported a young woman recently inspired the masses after she shared a very motivational post on Twitter about how she tweeted about a BMW 1 Series seven years ago and now this year was able to buy the pricey vehicle.

Her highly motivational tweet was captioned "How it started," indicating a tweet she made in 2013 about the car that read, "1 Series bafwethu" along with a smiley face. The next picture was captioned, "How it ended" and featured a picture of the brand-new black BMW 1 Series car.

The post racked up over 4 000 of reactions from tweeps who were wowed by how the young lady not only spoke her dream into existence but also strived to make it a reality a whole seven years later.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Maryn Blignaut avatar

Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za