There is an intimacy to the messages that arrive in community group chats. A mother in Guadalajara sends a voice note to her daughter in Los Angeles; a cousin in Shenzhen forwards a news link into a WeChat group named after the family village; a neighbor in Queens shares a screenshot of a poll watcher warning in a church WhatsApp group. These are not strangers shouting into the endless feed of a public timeline. These are the voices of people we love, people who care about us, people who would never intentionally put us in harm’s way. And that is…

On a bright Tuesday afternoon, 20 October, the peaceful False Bay settlement of Fish Hoek became the setting for more than just a scenic lunch by the water. At The Galley Restaurant, a familiar kind of warmth filled the room as the members of the Sonskynhoekie Senior Citizens’ Club from Blanco, George, gathered around tables laden with food and conversation. This was not their first time away from home, but it was a meal with special meaning, one arranged and partly sponsored by a woman whose heart belonged to their community. Micheline Fortuin, a family historian from Crawford, had helped…