Why I Built Sosiale Moments, and Why I Chose the Name

I once read a social media post that stayed with me.

A man wrote about travelling to different towns and villages in Germany during the holidays. As I remember the story, one Christmas a woman noticed that he was visiting her village and invited him for tea.

He went back to see her every Christmas after that. Then, one year, he arrived and learned that she had passed away.

What stayed with me was how one invitation had become a reason for someone to return, year after year.

How many people go through a whole day without having someone to talk to? How many would welcome someone sitting down with them for an hour?

That question became part of why I built Sosiale Moments.

Our Social Lives Deserve Time Too

I see a lot of life, especially in the West, organised around work, career growth and improving ourselves. We make plans for those things. Our social lives can end up depending on whatever time and energy remain.

I think that is something we need to change. Having people to talk to should matter in how we organise our day. We should ask ourselves whether we are making room for the social life we actually need.

That is the gap I wanted Sosiale Moments to address: an intentional meeting between two people who want to spend some time together. It is not a dating app. There is no expectation of romance or of starting a lasting relationship. The meeting itself can be enough.

You do not need to wait for a group event. If you have an hour for coffee, you can put that invitation out there for someone nearby who would enjoy it too.

You choose an activity, a time and a public place. Someone nearby can accept, and you arrange the details in chat. You can also join a moment that someone else has created.

Local participation is still growing. My aim is to make those meetings easier to arrange and, over time, help reduce loneliness and isolation. That is the outcome I want to work towards and measure.

Why the Name Sosiale

I chose Sosiale, the Afrikaans form of "social," because I wanted the name to connect this idea to Africa and our human origins.

Homo sapiens originated in Africa and spread to other continents. Our ancestors lived in groups, shared knowledge and relied on one another. Cooperation and social networks were part of how people survived and adapted as they moved through the world. Human origins and social life.

Research into isolated Neanderthal populations has also raised the possibility that limited connections between groups contributed to their disappearance. The extent of those connections varied across populations, so this is a possible part of the explanation, not a single established cause. Research on isolation and evidence of connected Neanderthal groups.

What I take from that history is that our connections to other people matter deeply. We should embrace that part of ourselves and make it part of daily life. That is what the name Sosiale means to me.

"Moments" is how I want to put that belief into practice. One conversation, one shared activity, one person making time for another. Something that can fit into an ordinary day.

Why I Am Sharing This Now

I recently spoke with Bart Rotteveel, founder of Reaching Expatations. I told him the story behind the app and its name during our conversation about isolation and meeting new people. His advice was to share those reasons publicly.

I took that advice. This is the belief behind what I am building, and I want people to understand it alongside how the app works.

I have a personal motto: "One good moment a day can keep the doctors away." It is a playful expression, not a medical claim. I mean that one good interaction can make a day feel different.

That is what I hope Sosiale Moments can help people find.

Sosiale Moments

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