Building a Community Solution: Why We Created Missing People to Help Find Those Who Disappear

[u/PastorCalisto]

A few months ago, a friend of mine went missing. It was a huge shock to all of us—friends and family alike. That experience made me curious about how missing persons are reported online. I noticed that sometimes the official sites can be hard to navigate or temporarily unavailable, which makes it challenging to find or share information quickly.

The other main option is platforms like Facebook, but their notification system has serious limitations and posts often don’t reach the wider community unless you’re directly connected.That’s when I had an idea: why not build a platform where the community can easily report missing persons, lost pets, or stolen vehicles?

That’s how Missing People was born—a platform we just launched to provide a better, more accessible way to help those in need. I have spent countless hours building this system, and I believe it will truly help our community.

What do you think about this movement?

[u/zodwa_wa_bantu]

It's cool. Great really.

What I'm worried about though is that most people who go missing are kids from rural/low income households who's main form of communication might not be English.

Maybe a quick Afrikaans and Zulu language toggle on the website?

[u/PastorCalisto → u/zodwa_wa_bantu]

Thank you for pointing that out — it's a very important consideration. We are currently working on adding multilingual support to the website that will include all South African official languages, such as Afrikaans and Zulu, among others. This update aims to make the platform more accessible to everyone, including kids from rural and low-income households whose main forms of communication may not be English. Your suggestion for a quick language toggle is definitely aligned with our plans, and we appreciate your input!