Floods, School Struggles and Everyday Support: Happy World Kindness Day—Check These Kind Photos of Humans and Cats
A day for small gestures
Organizations from various countries announced World Kindness Day on November 13, 1998. The date remained, and the day’s purpose is straightforward: encourage people to do something kind. The Small Kindness Movement of Japan is one of the founding groups. It once recognized a cab driver who stopped to remove trash bags from a road to prevent an accident. The driver called it “no big deal,” according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Care in a hospital crisis
In 2004, Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri was a 28-year-old doctor working in the emergency room at Lagos State University Teaching hospital in Nigeria. During a chaotic night of treating accident victims, she was exhausted and had not eaten for more than 12 hours.
An elderly hospital cleaner gave Kadiri a biscuit and a sachet of water. Kadiri says the gesture reminded her that healing involves human connection as well as medicine.
Kindness passed along
Juana, a fruit seller in northern Ecuador, travels by bus each week to sell strawberries bought from local farmers. When customers are short on money, she lets them pay later; long-time clients sometimes share fruit with her when she is too busy to eat.
A photograph from Guatemala City shows a police officer helping a woman step off a bus on a rainy afternoon. Photographer James Rodriguez says the woman, who was visiting a police archive with a delegation of war survivors, needed help crossing the rain-soaked street.
Care for people and animals
Other images show a woman in Madagascar fixing a girl’s hair and Erika Pozo helping her 12-year-old nephew, Josthyn Neira, with math homework. The photographs were submitted by photojournalists from The Everyday Projects, a global network.
One image shows an animal rescuer carrying a cat to safety during severe floods in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024. Thousands of people and animals were affected by heavy rainfall and overflowing rivers. The collection also includes a support donkey, highlighting that animals can offer kindness to people.
Key points
- World Kindness Day was announced on November 13, 1998.
- A hospital cleaner’s food and water left a lasting impression on doctor Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri.
- Juana lets customers pay later and sometimes receives fruit from long-time clients.
- Photos feature acts of care for people and animals, including a cat rescued during Brazil’s 2024 floods.