A Santa sleigh spreads smiles and love, and safety with a dash of kindness

In a season often clouded by negative news, acts of kindness remind us that there are still good people in the world.

Picture this: cars covered in Christmas lights, shimmering like four-wheeled versions of the light-up sneakers you begged Father Christmas for as a kid. It’s a trend gaining traction globally, and right here in South Africa between 1 and 21 December you might have seen a Lynx decked out with strings of twinkling lights, tinsel, a “SANTA” number plate and a reindeer fixed to the front, as though pulling a magical sleigh.

This wasn’t just a flashy holiday decoration. This sleigh was on a mission – a 3,000km journey along South Africa’s coastline to bring joy to children in need. Spearheaded by Samuel Da Fonseca from The Car Scene, in partnership with Cars.co.za, the Santa Sleigh Project was making stops along the route to deliver presents to children’s homes and orphanages. But that wasn’t all. Da Fonseca encouraged others to join the mission by visiting the sleigh at its stops and donating gifts to the cause.

“At the root of it is delivering smiles and getting people to follow along,” Da Fonseca shared. “For now, the goal is to deliver as many smiles as possible, but we’d love for this project to become an annual tradition.”

And smiles they delivered. At each stop, the Santa Sleigh Project distributed between 100 and 200 gifts, and by the time it reached Cape Town, it had donated about 1,000 presents. The vision of the project – to spread joy and create a ripple of kindness – had truly come to life.

From left: Leanna Dreyer (the daughter of the lost elderly man); Cathy Lund (Woolworths content director); and Dash drivers Tylon Nyoni and Tyson Seremani. Photo: Woolworths

A helping hand

But sometimes acts of kindness are as simple as helping someone during a stressful moment. This is exactly what Woolworths Dash drivers Tylon Nyoni and his brother Tyson Seremani did recently.

It was 8pm on 1 December when Nyoni, on his way home from work, stopped at a traffic light and an elderly man asked him for directions. The man appeared disoriented and mentioned he was trying to find his way back to his home.

Unknown to Nyoni at the time, the man’s family had been searching for him for hours, growing increasingly frantic as they contacted the police and drove along roads hoping to spot him.

Nyoni tried using Google Maps to locate the address but couldn’t find it. He then called his brother Tyson Seremani for assistance. Together, the two brothers spent 30 minutes navigating unfamiliar roads until they successfully escorted the elderly man back to his home, safe and sound. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.