This is my last blog post as a member of the SAWIP Class of 2012 before we graduate. Undoubtedly, this journey has been one of the most rewarding, and challenging seasons of my life to date. Below is a letter to you, the readers of our blog posts, about closing remarks as I would write in my personal manuscript – my diary entry I guess.

Dear friends and future friends of SAWIP

Understanding you, understanding me

I carry a SAWIP legacy with me. It is uneasy for me to really explain what that means. A lot of it has to do with understanding the next person, situation, and it has to do with understanding myself. Much of this year, and to a large extent my tertiary training has been about courageous conversations and exploring my intellectual imagination. When I try to explain to someone what SAWIP is and what it is to me for the first time, I almost always speak about how it has broadened my world. I am now able to see things in many, different lights. Honestly! I now better understand that with many (if not all) issues, are many facets to assess. There are amongst others cultural, environmental, legal, philosophical, political, psychological, religious, spiritual, scientific, and a whole lot more schools of thought to be evaluated in any given situation. I value that. It’s opened up my world – enlightened it.

Growing pains

During this season of my life, I have been faced with many frustrations, with and for various reasons. Perhaps indirectly, but I have reflected on some of these growing pains in previous blog posts. It has all been worth it. It’s made me more resilient. The growing pains that I have experienced have allowed me to an extent, identify - and I trust will help me fulfil my life’s purpose as it unfolds.

Time management and sacrifice

Managing my time while respecting other people’s time has been a real learning curve. From the very beginning of our SAWIP journey, we were urged to be punctual. We were told that arriving on time meant that we had to arrive earlier than the said time. That means that arriving on the hour of the clock was considered as late. I took this to heart. My father instilled this very principle in me. This principle also largely has to do with meeting the specific, measureable, and time- oriented goals that I make for myself. Maintaining good time management has key elements of sacrifice and accountability. Although I do not always get it right, time management is a principle I strive towards.

I recall a number of times when I had to decline an invitation for a gathering of sorts from friends due to a prior SAWIP engagement. Our SAWIP year, or six month experience to be more precise, was mapped out all in advance. Inasmuch as times, dates and the program occasionally changed, we were all informed of what, where and when, in advance. Of course, we needed to allow for some flexibility when plans did not go precisely as we would have liked. During these times, I thought back to a by quote that is on my vision board by Charles Darwin. The quote reads:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

Still on time management and sacrifice, and in line with the above quote, I remember receiving valuable insight from a mother. This memory is from a conversation I had with a lady from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – Head Quarters where I was a SAWIP summer intern in Washington D.C. The young mother told me that you really only learn and understand what time management and sacrifice is when you become a parent.

Beautiful surprises

Pleasant surprises are beautiful. Over the past six months I have been very deliberate in giving thanks to my life experiences. There have been mundanely palatable occurrences to extraordinary events shared with exceptional individuals. It goes without mention that my SAWIP family (viz. teammates, management and executive teams, DC host fam and IFC colleagues), home family and dearest friends have been part of this experience.

One particular personal example of a cherished beautiful surprise that I experienced was at the IFC. I met a man called Mr Panda who worked at the front desk. We often spoke about jazz and poetry. During my last week at the IFC, I went to go look for Mr Panda to say goodbye. Later that week, I found him in my office about to leave a piece of paper on my desk. It was a poem entitled “Goodbye Makhosazana.”

With that, I give thanks to all the individuals who have been key role players directly and indirectly in my experience as a team member of the SAWIP Class of 2012. It has been real, a real positively life changing experience.

Sincerely

Makhosazana

PS. A toast to visionary and servant leadership that espouses unity and loving kindness!

PPS. A haiku:

valleys grow mountains

journeys are remarkable

SAWIP, I thank you

I grew up in Soweto, a township in the big city of gold - Johannesburg, and yet I have found another home in being in the countryside. I have spent the past few years studying in Stellenbosch, the heart of the South African wine lands. It is this environment and many encounters in Stellenbosch and the Western Cape Province (as I have experienced them) that have grown me in great devotion towards farming, and in particular agriculture.

While in Washington D.C., I had the opportunity to visit two family-owned farms in Montgomery County, Maryland. Thamsanqa, Tembanin, my SAWIP teammate, invited me to join him and Michele Rivard, his internship supervisor from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF).

We first visited Homestead Farm, a pick-your-own fruit and vegetable farm owned by the Allnutt family who have been farming on the land since 1763. Although we arrived unannounced, we were warmly received by the family. Ben Allnutt, the farm manager, took us on a tour of the farm. I felt at home enquiring about the soils, irrigation systems and general agricultural practices. On the day of our visit, we handpicked blackberries and yellow and white peaches as they were in season.

Our welcome into Homestead Farm on a scorching Saturday morning

Listening to Ben explain his irrigation system

Fresh from the cob. Definitely the sweetest sweet corn I had ever tasted

Blackberries for sale

The second farm we visited was a dairy farm called South Mountain Creamery. It is owned by the Sowers' family and they have been on the farm since 1981. In addition to the eventful day-to-day dairy farming activities, the farm prides itself in producing, processing and distributing operations. Since 2001, their farming business has grown into South Mountain Creamery being Maryland's first on-site milk processing plant. Today, they not only rear dairy cows, process and bottle milk, but they also deliver milk (and other dairy products) directly to homes in Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Concerning the future of the farm, the Sowers' believe in being a self-sustainable company. Among the many projects, they are working on installing a bio-diesel (conversion of soybeans to bio-fuel) plant.

A South Mountain Creamery delivery truck

Karen showing us the cowshed

Thamsanqa getting ready to feed the calves

Most of the calves were tyrants when we fed them. Thankfully, this little fellow was pleasant

I found both farm visits refreshing. I think that Homestead Farm's business model is a novel way of getting people to appreciate the source of their food. Although I understand that our South African agricultural is different, the idea of visiting a farm to pick my own fruit and vegetables is delightful. I was also inspired by the story of how the Sowers' started, grew, keep learning and sharing. I am impressed to see their tireless efforts also being harnessed into green energy. I believe that there is a promising future in adopting modern technologies in agriculture.

Thamsanqa and I with Ben Allnutt at Homestead Farm

Michele, Karen Sowers, Thamsanqa and I at South Mountain Creamery

I give thanks to Ben Allnut of Homestead Farm and Karen Sowers of South Mountain Creamery for allowing Michele, Thamsanqa and I to feel and be at home on their farms. It was a great pleasure.

We are back home safely in South Africa. My experiences in Washington D.C., were beyond amazing. I cannot think of a single appropriate adjective in my dictionary that I would not use to describe my DC experiences. It was that fantastic, and more! Now that we are back on home ground, I will be able to reflect in depth about the past few weeks. This post-DC reflection is a re-telling of the last night in DC. I almost thought that I was lost, again...

We had our farewell reception on Friday evening. Shortly after midnight while at a place called My Brother’s Place for our farewell after party, I decided that I had to go home since I wanted to be up early to pack and run a few errands on Saturday morning. My host sister, Molly, and I checked the bus times on her cell phone, I said goodbye and left with a few people going to the Metro (train) Station, although we were all going to different directions.

I got off at Dupont Circle Metro Station, and must have waited at the bus stop for over half an hour. Just as I was about to return to the subway, a group of youth walked my way to join me in waiting for the bus. I asked if they could please check at what time we could expect the next bus. The web results returned with the news that there were “no [bus time] predictions” until 6am. I immediately thanked them and went back on the Metro Station to the Tenleytown AU stop. Upon arrival, I found it pouring with rain. I boarded a shuttle, homeward bound. As soon as I spotted Nebraska Ave and Ward Circle through the misty glass windows, I got off the bus at the next stop. I must have really been deep in thought because I got off at the wrong bus stop, although, I did not realise this immediately. It was only after walking a few, brief steps that I saw, read, and heard (as if I could hear the Metro Bus voice saying) Westover Place. I was thoroughly irritated with myself, although I managed a slight giggle. This time round, I wasn’t lost, entirely. I knew at least two routes to get me home. I kept walking while trying to text and holding up my umbrella to prevent the rain from making me feel damper. I tried hailing down two taxi’s, but neither stopped.

I had $ 0.59 remaining credit on my cell phone. This meant that I could send text messages, but not make outgoing phone calls. In-between texting Molly to inform her that I was still not home, almost 2 hours after leaving our farewell party, and asking her to call me back, I learnt that Molly could not get through to me because of the low credit on my phone. This meant that I could only send and receive text messages. However, I could not make nor receive phone calls. I felt so embarrassed. Fortunately, I made friends along the way. I introduced myself to Travis and Shatavari who were walking a few feet behind me. I was honest about my situation and asked if I could use one of their phones to call a taxi. They kindly agreed. During my call to the taxi operating centre, the operator asked me for my name. Now, on any other day, I would have slowly said Makhosazana and if the need arose, repeated my name by clearly enunciating my name in its five syllables as Ma-kho-sa-za-na. However, considering the time of day, and the fact that it was not my cell phone bill I was running up, I told the lady on the line that I am Khosi, a shortened version of my name. Within 5 minutes, a taxi came to pick me up.

A man named Adam from Ethiopia drove me home. After exchanging greetings and deciding on a route home, he gave me a word of caution. He had tried reaching me on my cell phone before he found me at my said location. Since I was unable to receive incoming calls, he was unable to reach me. I know that I was at fault. I apologised. I was happy when we turned into my DC home street.

I have retold this story several times. I have been laughed at and even called a moemish (moomish/mumish – subject to spelling preferences) by my dear SAWIPers. There are plentiful DC experiences that we will share on and reflect on for years to come. Ironically, this feeling of being lost, is one that I am currently carrying with me. I am back to what has been familiar to me for the greatest part of my life. And yet, I cannot help but feel somewhat displaced, somewhat lost. It’s uneasy for me to say exactly what this lost feeling is about right now. I am certain that with time, thought and work, I’ll figure it out. I will feel re-positioned and ready to steer on. Although, I may need to change direction and that may lead to me getting lost, again. Still, I am hopeful that this journey forth will find me and bring me back home, home to serve and to serve well.

I have had the pleasure of being a summer associate at the International Finance Corporation Head Quarters (IFC-HQ) over the past month. I worked as part of a young, dynamic team part of the private sector window of the Global Agriculture & Food Security Program (GAFSP).

During my stay, I attended the IFC summer internship program welcoming and orientation workshop. And it is here that I began to receive a greater understanding of the IFC and it’s role as part of the World Bank Group. The IFC’s values are fittingly found in and lived through the word excited, whereby, EXCITED is an acronym for:

EX – Excellence C – Commitment I – Integrity TE – TEamwork and D – Diversity

Although the time I spent learning with and from the GAFSP team was short, I loved it. A great big thank you to Laura, Alex, Juan and Yoshi for their invaluable time and teachings. I feel enriched having known you. And yes, also very excited about this journey forward.

While there are a number of systems that I have come to appreciate about the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the accessibility to public transportation by people with physical disabilities is one that I hope to see being developed in many other countries, including my own. Below are some photographs and brief commentary on how people with disabilities are being empowered to independently navigate the city.

Photo 1: Tactile paving is a form of detectable warning surface commonly found near pedestrian crossings, staircases and train station platforms to guide blind and visually impaired pedestrians. This system was first introduced in Japan. Today, countries that also make use of this system include Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Photo 2: New Metro buses have low floor ramps that allow for ease of access into and out of Metro buses. In the event of a hydraulic system failure, provision has been made to allow the lowering of the floor bus to be performed manually. In addition, inside the bus is a specially designated area for wheelchair securement with safety belts.

Photo 3: Public and office building restrooms cater for ease of access to people with disabilities.

I had the honour of making the opening and closing remarks during our (SAWIP) inaugural public conference on 26 June 2012 in Washington, DC. This is how the evening session unfolded.

Good evening

... to greet you with merely a “good evening” now seems as an anti-climax after an afternoon that inspired me to want to greet you all with a traditional ululation.

[The audience ardently joined me with the ululation]

I am Makhosazana Sika. I was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, in Soweto to be more specific, in an area called Zola. I am a member of the SAWIP Class of 2012 and feel honoured to be here this evening.

Opening remarks

We had wonderful speakers this afternoon - a great big thank you to all of them. On behalf of SAWIP, I would like to in particular thank South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, for his participation earlier this afternoon, and for spending the evening with us as well.

For tonight’s proceedings, our discussion will be a focus on the life and legacy of our former president Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. The most significant inspiration about the life and legacy that uTata Mandela has for me is about hope and dreaming. In his autobiography entitled Long Walk to Freedom (Little, Brown and Company), Nelson Mandela writes:

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward.

There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

Those words speak volumes to me. There have been a few times in my life that had I given up, that would have resulted in me feeling disempowered and insecure about my own future. As a message to us all, and in particular to the youth, I believe that uTata Mandela’s words are those of being hopeful and having the ability to dream about an improved nation with empowered people.

At this point, I would like to share a brief story about myself. In 2006, I left home at the age of 17 to go and further my education at the University of Stellenbosch. I grew up in a township, so the notion of going all the way to what you may refer to as the “country-side” in Stellenbosch to pursue a degree in the agricultural industry was not a popular one. However, I was adamant about it.

During my first year, I soon learned that perhaps studying at a university closer to home and closer to what I knew and understood of the world would have been easier. I recall being intimidated when we were told as first years that 60% of us would not make it to the second year of university. Still, I stayed, because I knew why I had come to university. I had and still do have great future hopes.

I believe that education is an investment; it is a gift that keeps on giving.

Vote of thanks

I would like to thank all of our forum participants for their thought-provoking and action-inspiring discourse. Your words have again reminded us of the magnitude that the life and legacy of uTata Mandela embodies.

A big thank you to the Woodrow Wilson Centre for partnering with us [SAWIP] to make this event happen. In particular, a very special thank you to Steve McDonald, Mame Khady Diouf, Derek Langford and Sheila Sengupta. Also, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the SAWIP team that worked diligently in making this fundraiser event a great success. In particular, thank you to our SAWIP executive director Claire Shoolin; Kim Williams, our SAWIP program manager; and the SAWIP interns: Dinika Govender, Thuli Montana, Molly Sandza, Afua Sarpong and Skye Kussman.

On behalf of the SAWIP Class of 2012, I invite you all to our reception where you will be treated to South African food and wine, as well as a live performance by Washington, DC’s extraordinary jazz vocalist, Akua Allrich. Please join us across the hall and enjoy the rest of the evening!

Thank you