The price of food is going up, the expense of filling up a vehicle with fuel is becoming worse, and it seems like the cost of renting a place to live is going to continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

When Brandon Britz went to the grocery store in his neighborhood on July 3, 2019, in Somerset West, South Africa, he appeared to see one of these incidents occurring in real time. At the checkout counter at Food Lovers Market, where Brandon was getting his monthly supplies, he was confronted with the terrible message “card rejected.”

Brandon made another attempt to swipe his card, which continued for some time, until he finally asked the clerk if he could withdraw the money from an ATM in the area. Brandon tried to send some money to a buddy he was now with as a last ditch effort, but he was met with an error notice when he attempted to do so there as well.

Brandon started to feel the familiar financial strain as he realized that he was unable to pay for the groceries that he had already collected and brought to the register.

Brandon was fortunate in that the cashier, Nolitha, had been watching the event evolve and could sense the irritation that Brandon was feeling. Nolitha volunteered to pay the whole price of Brandon’s groceries, despite the fact that she had never met Brandon before, and she encouraged him to take the food home with him since it was becoming late.

Brandon was so moved by the generosity of a stranger that he was on the verge of bursting into tears. He offered Nolitha his contact information and assured her that he would be returning the next day to repay her for her help.

After making his way back to the Food Lovers Market and compensating Nolitha for her loss, Brandon was unable to shake the impression that the act had left on him.

Ever though he had never met Nolitha before or even gone to that supermarket, he was exhibited a degree of empathy and selflessness that restored his trust in the kindness of other people.

Because of Nolitha’s generosity, Brandon decided he wanted to repay the favor, so he got in touch with Backbuddy, a fundraising agency based in South Africa.

There, he started a page for Nolitha with the intention of earning money to express his gratitude to her. On the sheet, he scribbled the following: “This demonstrates that there are good individuals in the world, and as a way to say thank you and pay it forward, I would like to start a contribution for her!

My objective is to get a wage for her of around R6,000 (approximately $336 USD) each month. I have given her a gift of R1000 of my own money, and I am certain that she would be grateful for any donation, no matter how little; she is a true hero of South Africa, and I really hope she gets renowned! Thank you so much, Nolitha; you are a true hero!”