It’s one of the things that I love about Facebook: it’s bringing people together in real life and not only on the screen. It’s joining communities. 
This I only really experienced when I saw all the activity going on, on my local “Trade and Swop” group, started by Barbara van Rijsewijk…
It just became a means of connecting with people in my neighbourhood, usually through means of buying or selling or asking something. It’s a great place for information. I’ve seen people have a weekend crisis and put the message out on the Valley Trade & Swop (VTS). Need a plumber on a Sunday? Up it goes on VTS and within a short time, a number of names and phone numbers appear and the problem quickly is solved. I tried the water in selling a few things and buying too. It’s a way of connecting with fellow residents and getting to know people. I had a lot of firewood in my back garden and through VTS had someone come and cart it away. They got firewood. I got my back cleared. It was a great trade-off. A message out on VTS opens you up to more than 5000 people.
These community forums are popping up everywhere and in different style. There’s the South Peninsula Moms, which effectively connects Moms across the Fish Hoek Valley.
There’s Noordhoek Community Forum…
….which connects people and events in that neck of the woods.
But go further afield and you’ll find similar community groups all over Facebook…every nook of the city seems to be covered…this is Grassy Park’s…
…and there’s one for the women of Khayelitsha…
With cell phone connectivity, it makes it easy to get news out and information in.
In years gone by, before the online social revolution began, people met out and about in the community. The social life of our grandparents and great grandparents really revolved around family and their immediate neighbourhoods. There wasn’t the enormous amount of cross continental travel. Many people 100 years ago had hardly left their city, let alone their country. Families were bigger, communities tighter. They met at church, at markets and in each other’s homes. And they spoke, FACE TO FACE! 🙂 They found out about each other through conversations and instead of showing the other photographs, they introduced their friends to their family members!
The social media revolution means that we seem to know a lot more about each other even though we seldom see each other. We recognise faces “from Facebook.” We are often friends (on FB) with people we’ve never met before. I’ve regularly said, “I know them from Facebook!” This is just the way it is. I can scroll through a complete strangers FB profile and discover incredibly personal details about them – where they grew up, where they went to school, their date of birth, their date of marriage, how many children they have, what their kids look like, their pets, their spouses, their jobs, their homes, their cars, their likes and dislikes, their opinions, all spill vociferously off the screen. Information overload!
That’s why I love these community forums so much. It leads us away from all the personal gumpf we see on people’s profiles and it gets us into communication. It has someone arrive at my front door with 2kg of almonds (“free delivery to the Valley”). It gets me meeting people and interacting with them on a different level than just scrolling through meaningless amounts of social information. Yay! I have contact. I can get to know someone in a more meaningful way and be helpful.
Solomon wrote, (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labour. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.
On these amazing forums we have whole communities to assist in helping one another.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂