Tuesday, February 14, 2017

A fellow South African-American blogger needs help


I'm sure many of my readers know of Kim du Toit.  He's an immigrant from South Africa, like me;  and, also like me, he married an American lady.  His blog, 'The Other Side of Kim', was a regular destination for me for many years.  He stopped active blogging some time ago, but I understand he has a presence on Facebook; and he's also published several novels.

Sadly, Kim's wife Connie recently died of cancer.  He's been left with the burden of her medical bills, which he needs to clear before he can get on with his life.  He's set up a GoFundMe crowd-funding project for the purpose.  He says:

We were together for twenty years; twenty years where we were seldom more than ten feet apart from each other. For twenty years we worked in the same office, sat on the same couch, slept in the same bed, and in the end, when Connie was dying of Stage 4 cancer, I slept on the couch next to her recliner where she was confined  -- and when Connie finally died, my face was six inches from hers as I whispered my love for her.

Now my beloved Connie is gone, and I have to restart my life. This means clearing the debt, leaving the house where we lived together, and learning how to live without the woman who made my life possible. I'm a writer, and I have to write again, because it's all I know. So I'll be finishing those long-neglected novels, and yes -- I will start blogging again. I just need the funds to make that possible.

Please help me.

I'm going to contribute, of course:  and I'd be very grateful if those of you who also used to read Kim's blog, or who follow him on Facebook, would also do so.  He's had a very tough row to hoe these past few years.  He's helped a lot of people himself, and now it's his turn to ask for assistance.  I think it's merited.

Thanks.

Peter

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone got a snail mail address for other forms of financial contribution? Or a snail mail address they'd be willing to make available for that purpose? Some of us do cash-only forms of payment for everything.

Joseph said...

I am sorry to hear this. I read Kim's blog regularly, and he often mentioned his wife. My condolences to Kim and his children.

raven said...

Thanks for posting this- I read his blog with morning coffee for years, and was sad to see him stop.

Anonymous said...

I'm with anonymous, would be willing to send cash.
Annie Mouse

Peter said...

To those who've asked about sending cash: I don't have a snail mail address for Kim, but if you e-mail him, he might give you one. You'll find his e-mail address at his blog, 'The Other Side of Kim' - see the link in the article above.

Glen Filthie said...

No offense to our gracious host - but if you want to talk about renaissance men - that was Kim in a nutshell. I hope he pulls through this alright.

fast richard said...

Kim's blog was instrumental in leading me to the gunblogs, which lead me to several blogs that I still read regularly. That includes this blog, although I think I may have read your wife's blog before I came across yours. I can't afford much, but made a small contribution. Gotta help out the tribe? clan? I don't even know what to call these tenuous internet connections, but I think they are important.

Anonymous said...

went to site, says closed to public

Shell said...

Kim's was the first blog I ever made a point of reading. He's a good soul. One of the reasons I've always liked yours is that you remind me of him in attitude and expression. (Imagine!) Thank you for letting us know he needs help.