When a city lets its people speak, music listens — and sometimes it answers back.
This Mental Health Awareness Month, Sandton City has taken a simple idea and multiplied its power: a nationwide call for brief voice notes — messages people wished they could say to someone who’s struggling — has been transformed into an original song, a public installation, and a fundraising pop-up all wrapped into one urgent campaign called Words That Heal, delivered in collaboration with the Riky Rick Foundation.
What started as anonymous whispers in shopping aisles became a chorus of compassion. Hundreds of submissions poured in: honest, small, fierce recordings that together map the rhythm of human care — “I see you,” “You are not alone,” “Stay with us.” Producers and artists wove those messages into a hymn of company and hope. The result is a raw, intimate hip-hop track that features the voice of Riky Rick and centres those very words — ordinary phrases made extraordinary by the weight of the people who sent them.
Listen to Words That Heal here: YouTube and SoundCloud.
From Voice Notes to Song: Why This Matters
South Africa loses an estimated 23 people to suicide every day. That number — more than a statistic — represents lives, families, neighbours, futures. The Words That Heal initiative turns talk into action by amplifying small, everyday kindnesses into public testimony that caring matters. It asks shoppers to do more than sympathise; it invites them to participate.
The campaign’s artistic collaborator, Samurai Farai, designed the in-centre activation and merchandise that translate those communal messages into wearable art. Limited-edition T-shirts, hoodies and scarves — each piece stamped by creativity and purpose — are on sale in the Words That Heal pop-up. Every rand of profit is channelled directly to the Riky Rick Foundation, which focuses on youth mental well-being and using creative practice as therapy.
Until Sunday, 9 November, visitors can step into the experiential pop-up on the upper level next to BOSS in Sandton City. The space is more than retail: it’s a listening room, a pledge station and a public altar of solidarity where people can read, record, purchase and pledge. For those who want to support remotely, the foundation’s online pledge portal is live at rikyrickfoundation.co.za/pledges.
The Power of Small Things
Campaign spokespeople and mental-health advocates often agree when it comes to suicide prevention and wellbeing, large interventions matter — but so do small acts of presence. A short message, a steady watch, a handheld in silence — these are the margins where lives are saved. Sandton City’s activation harnesses that truth, turning ephemeral kindness into tangible resources and sustained attention.
Sandton City has also kept lines open for practical help. The Words That Heal WhatsApp line — 063 980 5816 — remains available for people who want to reach out, share, or seek guidance about where to find support. The message is explicit and humane: reach out, speak up, and keep talking.
Culture and Care: A National Conversation
The campaign is steeped in culture as both medium and message. Riky Rick — an artist who used his platform for creativity and candid conversation — is at the centre not just as a celebrity voice but as a symbol of cultural care. The track reflects his legacy as much as it channels the voices of ordinary South Africans.
Sandton City’s approach also models a new kind of corporate citizenship. The mall turned its retail floors into a national forum for mental-health advocacy, showing that commercial institutions can be civic neighbours — spaces where surveillance and purchase give way to listening and care.
How You Can Join
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Listen: Stream Words That Heal on YouTube and SoundCloud and share it with someone who needs to hear that they matter.
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Visit: Experience the pop-up at Sandton City, upper level next to BOSS, until 9 November.
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Buy: Purchase limited-edition merchandise — all proceeds support the Riky Rick Foundation.
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Pledge: Offer time, funds or resources at rikyrickfoundation.co.za/pledges.
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Reach Out: If you or someone you know is struggling, use the Words That Heal WhatsApp line: 063 980 5816. If there is immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
A Simple Truth, Loudly Spoken
What the campaign proves is not new, but it is easily forgotten: words matter. In a nation where many walk heavy with grief, where young people confront pressures from every corner, an honest sentence can be a first step toward help. Words That Heal does what great art does — it holds a mirror up to a shared wound and refuses to let us turn away.
Sandton City and the Riky Rick Foundation have given South Africa a gift that asks for nothing glamorous in return: the permission to care out loud. In the stitched seams of a hoodie, the chorus of a song, the hush of a pop-up room, lives may be steadied. And for anyone who has ever felt too small to be saved, there is a new, simple sentence waiting for you: we are here.
