On South African Hospitality

By Kevin Abdo It is also in the work space that this hospitality is continually shown to complete strangers. It is this gesture that truly astounds me daily. I come into the Respite Unit on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and see this in action. Care givers showing total love and compassion to a patient they know little to nothing about. When driving patients to and from clinics I am given constant smiles, praises, and “Thank You’s!” It is also simply driving around various towns and cities that I notice “people helping people,” where a complete stranger is helping another back out of a parking spot or helping another parallel park. They do not expect a reward out of it, (although some of them do, mainly because it is some South African’s job to help cars back out of spaces) but simply do it because they wish to do it. I am reminded, now as I write this blog post, that this hospitality is shared all over the world, even in my own back in the States.I just have never had my eyes fully open to it until now.