“Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.” – G.K. Chesterton

“I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. … We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back” – Malala Yousafzai

The month of August is celebrated as Women’s month in South Africa (#WhitfieldsCelebratesWomen). We have one or more special women involved in our lives. They may be a grandmother (Gogo), a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a lover, a friend, a mentor, a work colleague, or a boss, who we can thank and celebrate this month for making a difference in our lives.

All these special women mentioned above often touch our lives daily, being beautiful in their own special way, and who through their inner strength, resilience, belief, hope, and everyday struggles and efforts, they are building in their own way, a better today and a brighter tomorrow that should not go unrecognised.

This month of August, we recognise and acknowledge the special place that women play in building a better and a more caring South Africa. We especially celebrate those women who are committed to creating the environment for giving the people of South Africa a hope for a better present, those who are working tirelessly every day to try and ensure a better and brighter tomorrow for South Africa and all who live here, even when life is filled with ups and downs, and all kinds of challenges have to be faced that may cause us to consider losing our hope.

But we must never lose our hope, although in these trying times, hope can mean different things to different people. Hope could be as simple as believing that our circumstances will be better in the future despite what we are currently experiencing in our day-to-day living, which then allows us to be optimistic about our chance of realizing our goals and dreams for our lives and those that we love and care about.

At times it is hard to believe in a better and brighter future when facing down the current circumstances that we find ourselves experiencing as South Africans, but despite the desperate conditions that exist, we must have hope and build on that hope that we can successfully navigate our way through this mess of a global pandemic, ongoing lockdowns, the ongoing economic crisis of joblessness and hunger, and the most recent insurrection of mass looting and violence and find a positive outcome (#HopetoHeal – a hope to heal our nation)

Although there are many obstacles in life, hope helps us to get closer to our goals despite the circumstance that life brings our way. This is because hope brings with it a sense of joy, of peace, and strength to face the now. When you have allowed a deep-seated sense of hope to develop in your life, you must then find the will, determination, and the means to attain your goals. Life is so full of ups and downs that without hope, without the inner peace of knowing that better days are ahead, it is almost impossible to fully live.

One cannot, just wish for hope, you can’t just hope something into existence, Hope must be lived and experienced, done, and actioned. May we see new mercies every morning in our lives as we seek hope for a future and a truth that endures, with strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside. May God Bless South Africa and all her people, and may God guide our leaders.

At Whitfields we endeavour to listen, care, and deliver, through the services we provide to the community schemes we manage. We undertake to provide informed, relevant, and updated information to the scheme executives on the applicable governing legislation for their scheme, and how it impacts the scheme where they are appointed. Additionally, we will provide the necessary direction and advice as to how scheme executives can best manage their schemes, and in doing so we will strive to we meet our client’s expectations in terms of the service we provide.

At times we may fail, but we will always try our best to do better and to improve. We have done so for the past 30 years and look forward to doing so into the future!

Keep Safe, stay strong, be grateful for all you have, and stay hopeful for a better future – Warm Regards, Andrew