Local student and Express correspondent Danielle Saayman is turning her experience of pain and loss after the death of her mother into a pay it forward campaign.
Saayman, in collaboration with the Pay It Forward Community Foundation (PIFCF), has launched the Pay It Forward Community Fund.
A shared dream between both parties will become a reality as Saayman embarks on a ruck (walking with weight on her back) from July 14 to July 17, 2025, to raise funds for the Pay It Forward Community Fund. Over the course of four days, Saayman will walk three kilometres per day while carrying a 40-kilogram sandbag.
The ruck will commence in Kariega, move through Despatch and Gqeberha, and conclude in Jeffreys Bay.
Having worked closely with the community over the past few years and witnessed the need firsthand, Saayman and the PIFCF felt compelled to act. Together, they launched the fund, which will provide assistance to those in need within local communities.
“This fund will help people cover medical expenses, whether it’s surgery, cancer treatment, or offering support to families facing hunger. Carrying a 40-kilogram sandbag for three kilometres a day over four days will be no easy task, but it’s about more than me carrying the sandbag.
“It’s about what the sandbag symbolises. The weight represents the pain, hurt, depression, loneliness, grief, and struggles people experience in their lives. Everyone carries their own ‘weight’ on their shoulders,” Saayman explained.
She started rucking shortly after losing her mother to cancer in 2022.
“On September 18, 2022, I received the worst phone call of my life while I was in the United States. The voice on the other end said, ‘Danielle, she fought so hard until the end. But it’s all over.’ My mother had passed away after a painful 11-month battle with kidney cancer. Due to strict visa regulations, I couldn’t travel back to South Africa,” she shared.
“I had to face the loss and grief alone, without any blood relatives by my side.
“In the depths of that pain, I turned to many things to cope, including alcohol. But it was in my darkest hour that God called me to do something I never, in a million years, thought I would do. On August 19, 2023, I carried a 100-pound (45-kilogram) sandbag for three kilometres in honour of my late mother, Michelle, while also raising money for a CrossFit friend who was battling breast cancer at the time. That day, God showed me my purpose. And that’s why I’m rucking again this year — for a purpose bigger than myself.”
While the weight for Saayman symbolises the burden of grief after losing her mother to cancer, it can mean something different to each individual.
For some, it might symbolise abuse, miscarriage, divorce, financial struggles, loss of income, the loss of a child, family separation, or the death of a loved one.
Sonja du Preez, the visionary of PIFCF, said she has always been driven to assist those in need and explained that easing someone else’s burden brings her immense joy.
“I was born with an unrelenting spark that drives me to defy the ordinary — always responding to the world’s ‘why’ with a bold ‘why not.’ And it’s that ‘why not’ that fuels my ‘why.’ May you find your ‘why’ — and may it lead you to go out and make a difference,” Du Preez stated.
To donate or for more information, contact Sonja du Preez on 064 537 4228 or visit www.pifcf.co.za
