Second Chances

Jean Mahlangu, Alison Weihe and Monique Erasmus, the Soul Voice Journeys team - 20/08/2025

So many people ask me, “Why don't you retire? Why are you still working? What are you trying to prove? You don't need to prove anything anymore.” And lately, I've had to question myself: Why do I work?

Why do I work?

I work because I'm living a second chance, I believe. A second chance at being a better wife, a better mother, a better leader.

My father was an entrepreneur, an apple farmer, an engineer and a humanitarian, as well as being very involved in Rotary. At eighty years old, he was building a house with his eighty-two-year-old friend, who was a builder. That was his last burst of creativity before Alzheimer's eventually led him cruelly into silence over seven long years. He had done so much to help so many people over his lifetime. To see this dynamic, complex, remarkable man, crushed, makes my “Third Act”, as Jane Fonda calls it, poignant and deeply meaningful in many ways. My mother was steeped in serving communities that were often forgotten, teaching sewing to domestic workers and also being active in Rotary.

My “Third Act” is my final creative contribution to the world because I was given a second chance.

I walk in grace in a life I never anticipated and which I do not take for granted.

I work because this is a journey of the soul beyond age, beyond all labels. I work because I get to dress up, show up, serve, and collaborate.

I work not for glamour. I work for grit. I work not for accolades, but for the deep, humbling work that my work brings almost every day. I work because it is no longer work. It is creating. I work because, in founding "Soul Voice Journeys", I get to walk alongside the two remarkable young women who are my core team, my compass, and my moral courage. They are at the root of my faith.

I don't work. I get to work. The work I do is mainly in disadvantaged, often forgotten communities and in the arena of mental health. I don't regard myself as a speaker, but as a vulnerable storyteller, a facilitator of courageous conversations, an alchemist of identity.

Every time I speak, and someone gets to feel less alone, less judged, greater courage, a deeper faith in the knowledge that they belong - that is my sermon of the soul.

When someone in the room finally feels that they belong, that is my greatest joy, my deepest tears. It is my healing. It is why I came to earth.

The meaning of my life is to give my life meaning. Our purpose-filled children both live overseas, and both are passionate about their fields in science and mental health.

That allows me the privilege of being able to call "work" a calling, not a career.

It is the fire that drives me. It is the faith that fuels me.

I “work” because I am living a second chance to do things differently.

Three women told me they were ready to end their lives; One that same night, one that week and one that month. They heard my message and chose to stay. Today, those same women share their stories to inspire others that it is never too late to live a second chance.

That is why we do the work we do as Soul Voice Journeys.

Maybe your second chance is the hope and the courage for someone else's second chance?