Gratitude & Feedback from Mom of South African Schoolboy whose Photo was Shared around the World

Pretoria mom Drika Venter has sent a special message of thanks to all those thousands of locals and expats on SAPeople who helped share her son’s photo around the world. And she’s addressed those who were concerned that by sharing his photo and name globally – for a school project on social media – she was compromising his safety and anonymity.

Apologising for the delay , because things have been understandably a bit ‘hectic’ (since his project was such a runaway success) – Drika said: “THANK YOU to every single person who participated in Ruben’s Project. It was a HUGE success!

“Since his project started on the 13th of July, he attended 4 newspaper, 3 radio and even television interviews. After 16 days, his picture was shared more than 355,000 times! He presented his project to his school on Monday and he received a gold seal!!!”

Within hours of sharing it on SAPeople, messages flooded in from around the country and the world – Anita-Tom Jackson said “Hi Ruben I’m in Prague Czech Republic but I am a fellow South African”, So Ho Liège wrote from the Europa-French speaking part of Belgium to say “I’m a Belgian who loves South Africa”, Nicola Ockert said “How’s it. From all the South Africans in Virginia Beach, Virginia. USA” and Alison Leslie wrote “Hi Ruben. I am a South African working with wildlife in Malawi. You go lad!”

Closer to home Lara Contu said “Hi Ruben! I am also in Pretoria! Good luck with your project!”, while further afield Tiger Zhang wrote “Hello from Guangzhou China and gonna visit your beautiful country in August this year!”

There were messages from Dubai, Khartoum, Melbourne, Mauritius, Nigeria. “Hellow, you’ve reached Mount Gambier, South Australia” said Zena Reiner; “Finland, Very far north, next to Russia” – Tarja Korkkinen Tampere; “Hello Ruben you have passed through Greece – Vasbyt” – from Shirley Saunders; “Hello from Bora Bora, Tahiti” – Howard Walsh; and “On a farm in North West District Lichtenburg South Africa” – Marlene Vdmerwe-potgieter.

Proud South African expat Lilyian Adams wrote “Hello Ruben! Ons is op die Gold Coast in Queensland, Australie! Ons skree nog wir die Bokke!”, while Mike Langford, a South African in Cusco, Peru, said “you have reached 3400m up in the Peruvian Andes Ruben.”

Internet Safety Concerns

Langford added: “To Ruben’s & all other parents – make sure that any photos posted online that have been taken with a smartphone have GPS data/tags turned off.”

Mike wasn’t the only one to express concern for Ruben’s safety. A question from Carmen Sylvia Anderson received many Likes and responses. She asked “doesn’t it worry his parents that people from all over the world know his name, location, and can see his picture? I understand the intention behind the project but I think that internet safety is more important. I’m in Germany, by the way.”

We asked Drika for her response and she said: “I am not really worried about his safety on FB. I did not take the picture with my cell phone and the picture wasn’t even taken in Pretoria. People all over the world post pictures of their children on FB and every picture has the ability to land in the ‘wrong’ person’s hands. We trust in God that He will protect our children.”

And one of the things that Ruben has learned from taking part in this project is that “one should not post just anything on Facebook, because within days the whole world could see it”, she says.

She added that “he also learned a lot about other countries – he now wants to visit some of those countries.”

Some of the unexpected messages that he received came from “Santa’s Workshop, a dive vessel in the North Sea, USA troops in Afghanistan, Iceland and many more.”

Mainly, Ruben Venter and his mom have learned “that there are millions of people around the world that are positive, friendly…and willing to help children excel in their school projects!”

You can follow Ruben’s project on www.facebook.com/rubensproject