He is not heavy, he is my Brother.

I am fundraising to support my brother, Jeremy, whose business that he worked very hard to build up over the last 20+ years has come to a complete standstill because of Covid-19. He has been left with absolutely nothing, zero!!! I would be so grateful for any contributions, no matter how small, to help Jeremy and his family get through this period. Please read my story below, and please share far and wide.

Jeremy’s business has employed over 20 individuals made up of permanent and non-permanent contract workers, as well as admin and office staff, drivers etc, some of whom have been working for him in excess of 15 years. Sadly, however, this all came to an abrupt end in March 2020. Unfortunately, the business that my brother chose to carve a life out of, and one that he has always been passionate about, has also been one of the hardest hit in South Africa and in fact throughout the world. That is in the entertainment and events industry. Probably the pinnacle of one of the most "socially non-distancing" businesses around. He grew this business literally out of a one man show, from his love of magic and showmanship from the age of 6 years old.

His industry was already under immense financial strain as is the case with many others in our already struggling economy in South Africa. Basically, before Covid-19 he had a very good business, built up through many years of hard work. On 26 March 2020 that basically disappeared!

My brother has approached all the financial institutions with little to no success, other than an offer of a payment holiday or 2. Insurance companies don’t care at all and many creditors just simply have no heart in this very difficult unique situation. My brother has the responsibility of looking after staff that provide an income for at least 20 odd families as well as his own family and a special needs child. (Another story for a different day). My brother has absolutely nothing in terms of income. He he can’t even go out and do a magic show to earn some much need cash on the side, for obvious reasons. All the relief funds offered and all the government-offered financial assistance are all otherwise over-subscribed or simply just won’t make even a dent on the financial situation that he is in. Most small to medium companies around the world only have limited amounts of any of stored financial resources and these are usually very very quickly depleted as is the case here.

Jeremy is the type of person who will always do anything for anybody. He is always there for people, and so it is really important that we give him our support at this time. Have a look at this recent Facebook post of his to get an idea of the type of person that my brother is: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=102191...

My brother, just like myself and my sister, is an extremely hard-working person. In fact, my sister and I often marvel over his energy and wonder where he gets it from, especially at his age now. Just like my sister and me, my brother is self-employed and has been for the last 20 plus years; this in itself is testament to just how hard working a person my brother is. He has also always been the most determine minded person I have ever known. (More about that over the next few days, as I give updates).

South Africa has announced that the lockdown will be lifted in a phased approach as is the case around the world with other countries as well. In SA we refer to this in levels, 5 being the worst and 1 being that we are back to normal. My brother’s business falls under Level 1. This means that he can only reopen his company when we reach level 1, as far as we can understand. When will we get to level one? I think that the real effects from an economical point of view only really hit me the other night when I was talking to my brother on the phone and he said to me and I quote, ".....what am I supposed to do now? Just sit at home and wait for level 1?...."

Everyone I am sure who is reading this, simply out of sheer curiosity or simply because they care, will know of a close acquaintance or relative or family member who is in this situation. In my case this happens to be my brother Jeremy. Please support in whatever way you can, please share this if you can, and please keep checking back for updates. Thank you!!