Dear Julie

Congratulations on your new appointment, and thanks for your first editorial.  I trust you won't mind taking a couple of minutes to read my opinions!

The e-TV report (which I did not see - I don't watch TV news) merely reminded me of the larger picture:

The print media (I still read some of them) keep moaning about the decline in their readership, which they keep blaming on the internet.

This weekend I thanked my lucky stars for living in South Africa.  I spent yesterday channel hopping through the news channels, Sky, CNN, BBC etc, only to witness the chaos going on in the rest of the world.

We are retired and live in Betty's Bay. Like so many of my fellow citizens we rely on the written media ( Newspapers) for our daily news. We found that most of articles were leaning towards sensation and negative news -and often downright lies. We stopped buying the newspapers and started getting involved in community projects. The result is that we have become positive and are trying to be part of the solution than the problem.

This week I needed to go and report a vehicle accident at the police station in Cape Town. Standing for 20 minutes in a very slow moving, pretty unco-operative station was a pretty grim experience for me so I decided to cut my loses and head across town to another station in Sea Point. The moment I got out of my car and smelled the wonderful ocean breeze I got a sense that things were just going to be different.

Our household used 1800 kWh electricity per month.  Several years ago we decided that with global warming and the fact that our company works in the energy efficiency field we should practice what we preach.  We began an energy efficiency drive at home.  Our electricity consumption is now 850 kWh per month.

I live in Los Angeles and every morning I try to browse through the South African press to get a sense of what is happening on the African continent. It is depressing to see what looks like a pattern among South African journalists. It appears they have resolved that good journalism means being anti-government all the time. There are so many good things happening in SA every day but we never get to hear about them.

A lot of people are eager to blame our President for everything, including the attacks on foreigners.  I'm dissapointed, because I strongly feel that President Mbeki has not let us down any more than we have let him down.  Let's face it, we - all South Africans - are responsible for what's happening, we've let each other and ourselves down.

This is not the country I voted for in 1994.  I voted for a safe, exciting, equitable and peaceful country alive with possibility for greatness.  We are at a crossroads again and we have an opportunity to surprise ourselves and to stand on the queues of a different nature, queues to manifest the impossible.

I am a South African.  I find this country very welcoming.  I sense passion and optimism, I sense hope for the better tomorrow.  Yes, I agree – things are not as rosy as we anticipated, but expectations hardly meet realities, isn't it?  But what can you and I do to turn a new leaf?  Don't tell me I must leave South Africa in search of a new home.  NO NO NO!!  I am going no where, SA is my home, it is the only home I know.  I am passionate about this country, I want to make the good out of the bad and we can help each other to make things work here, down south.  What is the point of leaving and returning when you think things are going OK whilst you have not been part of those people who made things happen?

I’m a regular ‘pommie’ business visitor to South Africa since 2000 and an enthusiastic pro-SA supporter ever since 1994. Most South Africans know just how lucky they are. The one’s that don’t, should try living (in the UK) for a while.

When I read the genuine hearts cry of Ms. L. Paterson I realise that she represents millions of South Africans who so much want to believe in the bright destiny of this country, however feel they are clutching straws. Although there are good news all around us, in the words of Ms. Paterson, ‘sometimes it really feels as though you're focusing on the successful germination of 1 seedling while the forest is in flames’. It might seem like ‘planting seeds in a burning forest’, but if there are enough of us doing something about the burning forest, we might actually save some of it, and look forward to the new treelings.

As a new resident of South Africa, I relish getting your newsletter regularly. It’s a privilege living here; more than any other media in the country, your publication keeps reminding me of that fact.

You have not heard from me before but I have quietly been reading away at all the good news your website displays.  Having lived in New Zealand for the past 10 years (ex Port Elizabeth / Pretoria) I have only ever heard the negative “stuff”.  I have been back to SA on about 4 occasions in that time and have always found the country to be the exact opposite of what you read in the media.  I always feel like I am “home”.

I've been reading your Good News for quite a while now.  I must say I admire your determination.  But there are many times that I read it and want to scream afterwards.  Sometimes it really feels as though you're focusing on the successful germination of 1 seedling while the forest is in flames.