Layla MacNaughton, Kirstenhof
You’ve probably never met my hero, and if you had to bump into her in the streets of Kirstenhof, you wouldn’t even know what a hero she is.
I only met my hero two years ago when we moved to Cape Town. Her name is Lyn Bevan; she was introduced to us as the old granny living in the garden cottage of our home, but, oh my gosh, she is so much more than that. Let me tell you why!
Lyn has a nickname that suits her perfectly. She is known as GG, which stands for ”gangsta granny”. Let me explain how she got this name.
Lyn is 73 years old and most 73-year-olds would be in their cottage knitting, but not GG. Lyn is a part of the Kirstenhof Crime Watch, she plays an extremely important role in volunteering her time to serve and protect our community.
This means GG makes herself available 24/7 to jump into her car and to help and work with the various security service providers. She drives around our neighbourhood to be the eyes and ears for all these companies. We know that Lyn is sometimes out patrolling at crazy hours of the night and she has such a heart to serve our community to make sure we are all safer where we live.
Besides being an amazing community hero, she has also become like family to us. It’s like I have another granny in my life.
I am grateful for all that she does for all of us. What makes her a true hero is that she never speaks about what she does; she just gets on and does it.
The statement “not all heroes wear capes” is so true for GG, but I’m going to make sure that she knows that she is actually a true hero to so many of us.
• Layla MacNaughton, 10, is a Kirstenhof Primary School pupil. Her letter was first presented to her class as an oral.
