It’s been a pretty quiet week on our side, to be honest. Nothing dramatic, nothing exciting, just one of those weeks where life sort of ticks along.

The weather has actually been decent, which we’ll take. It’s cold, proper cold, and it freezes at night, but at least it’s not that miserable rainy, grey, never-ending wet weather. I’ll happily take crisp, cold days with a bit of sunshine over that any day of the week.

We’re also still waiting for the invite for our in-person citizenship ceremony. Nothing yet. No email. No update. But by now we’re professionals at waiting. After five years in Canada, you get very familiar with the IRCC process. You submit something, it disappears into the black hole, and then one random day, out of nowhere, something finally pops up.

So yeah, that’s been our week. Quiet, cold, sunny, and patiently waiting. Same same, but still all good.

In This Week’s Newsletter

• Upcoming Events

• Calling All Business Owners

• Saffa Thought of the Week

• 👉 Bits & Pieces

• That’s a Wrap

Upcoming Events

Not all of our upcoming events are on Howzit Canada just yet. We’ve got a volunteer, Karmen, who’s loading everything, but she was waiting on details from me and I fell behind. So yes, that delay is 100 percent my fault.

If you know of any South African events coming up, or if you’re organising something yourself, please email [email protected] and she’ll get it loaded for everyone to see.

The good news is there’s actually a lot coming up.

We’ve already got dates for Afrikaans Is Groot. There’s also a proper rugby moment coming up, even though it’s not in Canada. The Springboks are playing the All Blacks in the USA, in Maryland. Proper test rugby. We’ll share full details once tickets and logistics are clearer.

We’ve also got the Rugby Sevens and the West Vancouver Cultural Festival coming up, so there’s plenty happening over the next while.

In the short term, there’s nothing happening in the next week. The closest event is Pub Night North in North Vancouver on February 16. Do your Valentine’s Day thing over the weekend, and then on the Monday come hang out with us at the pub for a couple of hours and just catch up.

Calling All Business Owners

One thing I want to start doing a lot more of this year is putting the spotlight on South Africans who are running their own businesses in Canada.

We’ve already listed a whole bunch of South African-owned businesses on Howzit Canada, but I’d really like to go a step further and actually get to know the people behind them.

The idea is simple. I want to start doing one interview a week with a South African business owner in Canada. Nothing formal, nothing scary. Just a relaxed 15 to 30 minute Zoom chat. We’ll turn it into a Saffa Spotlight for the newsletter and also share it on YouTube.

We’ll chat about your business, how you’re finding doing business in Canada, what’s been harder than you expected, what’s worked well, and anything else you think might be useful or interesting for others in the community.

So if you have a business, or you know someone who does, and you’re happy to have a quick chat, give us a shout. We’ll set up a time and take it from there. We’ll start with one a week and see how it goes.

It’s really just about learning from each other and supporting the people in our community who are out there giving it a go.

Saffa Thought of the Week

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about these so-called “experts”.

We’re absolutely surrounded by them. Political experts. Financial experts. Economic experts. They’re everywhere. YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and then again on the big news channels. Very confident opinions. Very strong predictions. Very sure about how things are going to play out.

And yet, if you look back a year or two later, hardly any of those confident predictions actually came true. In fact, most of the really bold, certain calls just never happened.

There’s a saying I really like:

“Follow the person who is searching for the truth, and run from the one who has found it.”

That line makes sense to me because once someone thinks they’ve found the truth, they usually stop listening. They’re not really open to other points of view or different ideas. It becomes, “this is how it is,” and that’s that. No discussion. No curiosity. And once someone shuts themselves off like that, they don’t really consider that they might be wrong, or that there could be another explanation. At that point, there’s nowhere useful to go.

I watched a really good video recently by Veritasium called The Expert Myth, and it was a proper aha moment for me. If you want to understand why this keeps happening, it’s well worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eW6Eagr9XA

One of the big takeaways is that real expertise only develops in environments where patterns repeat and feedback is clear and fast. Things like chess, engineering, medicine, flying planes. You’re either right or wrong, and you find out pretty quickly.

Politics, markets, and big social issues don’t work like that. They’re messy, unpredictable, and constantly changing, which means most “expert” opinions are nothing more than a wild guess paired with a giant ego.

So maybe the reminder for this week is a simple one. Stay curious. Be open to changing your mind. Listen to different views, but don’t outsource your thinking to someone just because they sound confident.

Thinking for yourself is still one of the most important skills you can have.

👉 Bits & Pieces

Just a few quick bits before we wrap up.

• Chilli Bites & Droëwors Competition 🌶️
  Just a reminder that the competition is on and entries close 15 February. If you’re keen to take part, make sure you get your tasting pack ordered before then.
  👉 https://thesouthafricanshop.ca/products/the-best-droewors-chilli-bites-in-bc-tasting-pack-official-howzit-canada-bc-competition-kit
  

• Howzit Canada Gear 🇿🇦
  We’ve also started pulling together our Howzit Canada gear. T-shirts, hoodies, and a few other bits with lekker South African-inspired designs if you feel like repping your SA roots out in the wild: https://thesouthafricanshop.ca/collections/south-african-swag
  

• Supporting Matthew 🇨🇦🏑
  One of our community families, Loren and James Julius, reached out to share that their son Matthew has been selected for Canada’s Next Gen Field Hockey Program and the U18 team touring Germany in March. Huge achievement.
  Field Hockey Canada has set up an official fundraising page to help cover the costs. No expectations at all, but if you’d like to support or share the link, you can take a look here:

  https://www.canadahelps.org/me/6J3ArMq5
  

• Calling All Structural Engineers 🇨🇦

  Etienne van Heerden shared this one. A well-established engineering firm in Vancouver is looking for a Mid- to Senior-level Structural Engineer, with experience in industrial structures, sawmills, or heavy industry.

  If you know a South African structural engineer (or someone eligible to work in Canada) who might be a good fit, feel free to ping me for more info.

Got something you’d like included in a future Bits & Pieces? An event, fundraiser, small business shout-out, or something the community should know about? Reply to this email and let me know, and we’ll start including it here.

That’s a Wrap

That’s it for this week.

As always, thanks for reading, thanks for being part of the community, and thanks for supporting each other in big ways and small ones. If you’ve got feedback, ideas, or something you think we should be doing better, just hit reply and let me know. I read every message.

Have a good week, stay warm, and we’ll chat again soon.

Cheers,

Callie