A family we created
This past Thursday was International Day of Families. I will admit that this was news to me.
I was under the impression that, as South Africa celebrates Family Day the Monday following Easter Sunday, most people, if not all, celebrate as South Africa does.
Before 1995, what we South Africans call Family Day was known as Easter Monday.
This was changed by the government of the time for the purpose of including everyone in South Africa, regardless of religious affiliation.
Families come in many different forms and the apartment block I currently reside in is one of the good kinds of family.
Like in many residential areas, a WhatsApp group was created to share all kinds of information about all kinds of things.
My first experience of a residential WhatsApp group happened a few years ago when I lived in a free-standing house. This group included many grown-up people living with their families.
Serious people. People paying bonds. Wang tshwara (Do you understand)? Yeah, yeah, for the sake of keeping up with what was happening around me, I did check in on the group chats every now and then.
But I will admit that I was not consistent and I did miss a few important mentions here and there. I really didn't care much. After all, I knew my stay was transient.
The current group I'm part of is really fun and I am loving it. Many of the residents in my apartment building are young professionals.
They (I say 'they', as I am like a skeleton resident and hardly partake) have managed to make the group entertaining. But this wasn't always the case – when the group was first started (about a year ago; the building is not more than two years old), this one family bickered a lot. Now I think the children have settled down.
The chats are populated by people who have a great sharing spirit for real. My people are real neighbours. Not a week will go by without someone requesting something on the group.
On a random Thursday, a message on the group comes from someone asking: 'Hi, anyone who has an extra onion to share?'
This happened some weeks back. It stood out to me because I hadn't checked my WhatsApps for a while that day. When I came out of the lift to make my way to my unit, I noticed someone giving another person two onions. I didn't make much of it at the time and brushed it off as someone giving their friend vegetables.
Because I know how lit the WhatsApp group is, I check in to see what is being said. So, I walk into my place, put my bags down, whip out my phone and settle in to touch base within the group.
Then I saw the message that explained the onion exchange I had seen outside. At that very moment, I knew that this apartment block was like a family.
The message thread continued: 'Bangladesh Market in the house lol.' With another saying:
This feels like Chatsworth & Phoenix… borrow onions, sugar and tomatoes from the neighbours. Also gossiping early in the morning with PJs telling the neighbours stories.
Star screwdrivers, hair irons and even batteries are shared among the inhabitants. Requests for herbs (both culinary and medicinal) feature in some of the threads. The latter mostly, and on Friday nights. Perhaps that's why the children are settled.
It's nice to know that Johannesburg still has people like this living here. But I will admit it might be easy to be neighbourly because we live in the same building and are not out there in the treacherous open streets of this city.
In volume 30 of the 2025 International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, a University of Cape Town research paper found that there is an alarming level of loneliness among young people.
The conclusion of the research states: 'This study provides further evidence of the associations of loneliness with mental illness in South African youth, suggesting that group- and peer-based interventions aimed at supporting social connections, belonging, depression and anxiety are worth investigating in this region. Further research is needed to explore the longitudinal nature of these associations.'
Family and the sense of belonging are very important and much needed.
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