Two weeks ago, the SAWIP team had a session on American elections with U.S delegates from the republican and democratic office. What had seemed to me a session not worth attending, because of my lack of interest in politics, sparked a curiosity and intrigue on this subject. When it comes to politics one can talk for hours or even days and dissect the topic into different facets and components, but here I discovered something else about politics than the usual legislative or parliamentary issues. What came up in this session was the concept of leading with values and beliefs, and of being held accountable for those values and beliefs. This got me thinking as to how politics actually work, or rather should work; I began to understand politics a little bit better. This philosophy behind politics seems sound, but it is known that leaders have governed with immoral and tainted principles and beliefs. But thinking about this principle or value driven system of governance in the context of South-Africa, made me realize it either doesn't exist or is lost in the politics of today. When I think about politics in this sense I realized; people vote for ideals and not ideas, people come out to vote not only because of what you believe, but what they believe and see reflected in you; a shared believe. We need people who can stand up for our beliefs when we are unwilling or unable to. We need people to create an environment which is governed by the values of the people and in so doing create a positive, peaceful and uplifting nation that we all can excel in. We need those people that believe, what we believe, that value what we value. We need them to create a safe space for us to practice and live out our values and beliefs, without being judged or discriminated upon.

If our leaders would understand this principle I am certain that South-Africa and the world would be a better place to live in. Of course this in not easy, especially in our diversity of class race and culture, but I believe this provides the opportunity for us to become united. Our constitution makes provision for leaders to lead with values and character, but we seldom find leaders willing enough to state what they value and believe and being open to be held accountable for that. We often lay strong criticism and judgement on politics when it is not the politics that is at fault, but the way in which politics is being practiced. Our politicians, just as our nation needs to be re-educated about governance and democracy. If we could teach our future leaders to practice politics on the right principles; with values and beliefs, ideals and ideas, we can achieve the standard of living which we are capable of, we can overcome our many complex challenges crippling our society, and because of this I believe there is hope for South-Africa.

During our stay and discussion in Washington, education has been one of the hot topics on the table. In almost all of our session the discussion would come back to education and the primary question resting on all of our minds is how can we reform the education system. One thing I’ve come to realize is that education reform cannot and will not happen solely through changing government policies or teacher salaries alone. What has happened to the state of education in South-Africa is so severe that it is ingrained into the mindset of both teachers and learners. Teachers can easily be persuaded to re-think education, but the learners is where the greatest challenge lies.

In reforming education, one has to tackle the issue in multiple arenas simultaneously. What I propose is looking at all the facets influencing learning, not just formal schooling, and start there. Policies do need to be changed, and teachers need to be granted greater recognition, but all of this will sink if the learner’s mind set isn’t changed as well. In this arena there are plenty of opportunities; social media and internet based learning is one of the empty arenas. In one of our recent sessions with a few of the top entrepreneurs in Washington we spoke on the opportunities in internet based learning systems such as Khan Academy and ePals. These platforms create integrated learning for teachers and learners, and it’s reforming the way teachers and learners are thinking about education. I believe this is something that has been overlooked in South-Africa. Many e-learning systems try to come through already established platforms through social media such as mxit or facebook. This didn’t work and won’t ever work, because these platforms already have an identity and trying to bring something to those platforms that does not resonate with its identity is futile. So people write off internet learning systems because it doesn’t seem to work. However, what we don’t seem to realize is that new platforms need to be crated and distributed with a pre-determined identity focused on integrated learning. In this way e-based learning systems won’t spiral out of control and out of its identity and purpose like so many e-based learning systems have. There are obvious challenges to this such as internet access and infrastructure, but if we can realize the potential of e-based learning and prioritize reforming education, we should do whatever it takes to get it right.

After what must’ve been one of the longest and most stimulating days in the program thus far, the SAWIP team was split into groups of five to attend a leadership dinner with U.S board members and distinguished guests to what would be a wonderful evening of stimulating youth transformation. Our afternoon session being the highlight of the day, when we were granted the opportunity to meet with the legendary Congressman John Lewis. What a brilliant man! I’ve never seen all of us on the team so captivated and intrigued by a single person or event. We sat with Congressman Lewis in his office and listened with aware to his stories about growing up in poverty, leading the civil rights movement in the 1960’s for equal voting rights in the U.S and preaching to a congregation of chickens as a young boy. Though short, it was in my mind the most inspiring session we have had so far. I was inspired by Congressman Lewis to study the great leaders of the World, to study the ages when great change took place and above all else to discard fear and be courageous. I’ll never forget what he said: “When you stand up for something and you not just willing to live and speak out about it, but to die for it. That’s when you are liberated.” I strive to one day be that liberated.

We spent our late afternoon among distinguished academics speaking on the parallels of civil rights movements in South-Africa and the United States. This was very interesting and our dialogue on civil rights movement swung to an interactive history discussion on the absence of stories or history of minority races such as blacks. But what has been the most inspiring evening event thus far was the leadership dinner and interaction with distinguished guests from a diverse background on a level that made us feel like the guests and teachers of the evening. We spoke on issues relating to politics, education, leadership and most importantly, what we have gained whist being in Washington and what we will take back to South-Africa. We all had something to take back home, in fact we all had plenty to take back home. My take home package included a great sense of African and South-African pride and awareness of South-Africa and Africa’s incredible potential for growth. I truly believe if I had not been part of SAWIP and this phenomenal experience in Washington, I would have taken all my knowledge and expertise to another country. Now I feel a sense of urgency to stay in South-Africa and use my expertise for the benefit our country and country folk. I feel obligated to attain the highest qualification and use it as a means to better the entire country not just my own economic status.

What followed was a question to the guests on what they think we should take back home and from these opinions flowed rivers of inspiration. We were told to go home and speak out on issues we feel need to change even if people think it’s not our place to speak out on. We were told to be courageous and role models to the youth of South-Africa. We were told that the United States looks up to South-Africa as being very modern, based on our constitution, and the world desperately needs South-Africa to get it right, and we need to help South-Africa get it right. And lastly we were told not to wait for something to happen or to be done studying and retired to make a change and impact, but to do it now. These words were most inspiring and stimulating to me and definitely something I am going to live up to and advocate for.

We have officially passed the halfway mark of the program and our stay in Washington D.C. No one could have predicted it would go by so quickly, but after an amazing and extremely informative three weeks in D.C, we’re halfway home. Still, at times this entire experience feels like a dream and I pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. It has been a phenomenal three weeks in D.C. I have never learnt and grew so much in a personal, professional and leadership capacity, as I am sure the rest of the team have. What has been most outstanding is the extraordinary young leaders I have met in the Washington-Ireland Program (WIP) and New Story Leadership (NSL) group. When I interact with my SAWIP team, WIP and NSL, I feel absolute confidence that the future is bright. I have learnt immensely from my fellow SAWIP team mates and shared with them life changing moments. On all our discussion and dialogues I have come to realise my role and purpose within SAWIP and the world as a whole. I have learnt to develop, nurture and educate myself toward the responsibility that has been placed upon me.

This experience, though extremely exciting, has been most uncomfortable, but this I believe has been a good thing. I believe it’s a good thing because it’s a sign to me that I’m busy growing, I’m internally being shaped and formed by my experiences and it’s uncomfortable, because of the growth it stimulates. I don’t believe anyone of us on the team has been at all comfortable. If we were this entire experience would have been worthless. I feel grateful and honored to be a part of this program and realise not only is the future in good hands, but so am I.

We recently had the pleasure of meeting with a U.S based youth development program called Urban Alliance. This non-profit serves up to 500 young people in the cities they operate and provide leadership, mentorship and internship courses for these high school graduates coming from disadvantaged communities. It was refreshing interacting with these passionate group of high-school youths on their way to college. Throughout our dialogue about similarities and differences between Urban Alliance and SAWIP, challenges that face our respective countries and cultural differences, I was taken back to my high school days and remembered a similar organization that invested in me. I stopped to think about how we have been informed on Africa’s potential and South-Africa’s potential in particular in the past few weeks and I wondered how many organizations like Urban Alliance and SAWIP are out there investing in the youth.

We always here on South-Africa’s natural resources and potential for economic growth, but seldom we here people speak on the potential of the youth in South-Africa and their potential to influence social change. I feel programs like SAWIP and Urban Alliance are custodians in what will be the next big investment; the youth. Sure enough SAWIP and Urban Alliance are different from each other on so many levels, but I’m drawing a parallel between their willingness to invest in young people. What dividends will these two organizations gain? Can they draw up a projection of returns to investors over 5, 10 or 20 years into the future?

One thing I have come to recognise is the leap of faith programs such as SAWIP and Urban Alliance take. There is no guarantee that the young people they invest in will generate expected returns in ways money can’t match. There is no projection of outcomes based on trends that they follow. There is only trust, hope and faith. Yet as history has shown, these intangible forces are of greatest importance, and as programs such as SAWIP and Urban Alliance will show, these forces generate dividends that far outweigh any monetary value. We as the SAWIP class of 2012 and everything that we will obtain after this incredible experience, will be the living breathing dividends to the entire world. Our impacts will bellow to the rest of the world and corporates such as Wall street that they missed the boat. When they invested in monetary value of companies, investment into people has surpassed returns of that made by companies.

I reckon human investment, particularly youth investment will soon grow into a self-sustaining market. We, currently in these programmes will be part of the pioneers opening the door to this market which will ever increase and serve as the new way to make social change. But the responsibility is on us to live up to that investment and prove to the world that youth investment is the key to social and global change.

Five years ago I set upon a mission to attain a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Stellenbosch, and I finally did it. After viewing my semester marks and passing everything, I realised that I completed all my modules and credits needed to obtain my degree and all I need to do is pitch up at graduation at the end of this year. After realising this, an overwhelming wave of emotion swept over me and I just wept.

It has been no easy task. I started my first year coming from a disadvantaged school, entering one of the most prestigious Universities in the country. I was in way over my head, with standards so high that I failed most of my modules in my first year. Here I felt the pressing need to give up and join the rest of my family in a dead end jobs working for minimum wage. However, I did not give up, due to divine intervention I was able to still make it into second year, but lost my residency on campus. I set out to stay elsewhere, anywhere but home, because I knew I would not be able to make it through university in the negative circumstance at home.

I redeemed myself in my second year by passing everything, but failed again in my third year. Failure seemed to wait for me around every corner and I couldn’t understand why. I eventually was tempted to quit again, but I met a mentor who changed my life. The Dean of our faculty of Science taught me something so profound it changed my outlook on life. He said to me that he has failed in so many things in life, that he learnt to make failure his friend, and I should do so too. I was confused by this, but the Dean explained to me the soundness of his advice. He graciously sat down with me and explained that success in anything, teachers you nothing, it just affirms your ability to do something. But when you fail, you always find a lesson behind it and become a better person. I took every single word to heart and made failure my best friend. After doing so, I never saw myself failing anything again. I took every negative and turned into a positive.

Even though I graduate two years after all my peers and friends, I don’t see myself as being two years behind. I've always believed everything happens for a reason and being a part of SAWIP made the reason for my academic journey crystal clear to me. I thought attaining my degree would be the end of my journey, because that’s all I ever wanted to do, I just wanted to break the stigma and prove that it’s possible, and I did.

Now I realise it’s only just the beginning. Getting my degree is the gateway to all the awesome things that is about to follow. I realise that I’m going back to South-Africa more aware of the world and more equipped to make a difference. But I also feel obliged to go back and study outside of my field to understand the world better, disciplines like the economy, law, philosophy, etc. I know now that I should further educate myself to a level which I can have a global perspective and impact. This is the next check point for me on this journey.

One of the toughest challenges that I faced growing up has been centered around the concept of identity. Never was I sat down with my parents and told this is who your grandma and granddad were and this is what they did. I hardly know my grandparents and their parents or the life they lived. I hardly know what traits (good or bad) I inherited from them. Subsequently I had a problem in one of my grade 7 history classes when we did heritage, because I simply did not know where I come from.

There is such a common stereotype and tendency within the culture I am born into. It centres on the fact that we are the divide of the nation, because we do not have a single racial heritage as our great grandparents, grandparents and sometimes parents are black, white or Indian and we are a mix of those. It goes further to classify us as either first or second generation “coloured” people. Recently, I found out that my maternal grandfather is German. However, I never heard this because my mother never knew her father until much later in her life. It is rare and more difficult to find strong roots for identity when one does not have any record of who one’s grandparents and great grandparents were.

There is yet another more alarming trend in today’s society. Children are growing up in an ever growing fatherless home and fatherless society. Over the past decade there has been a spike in teenage pregnancies and an ever growing disappearance of fathers, primarily due to their unwillingness to carry out the consequences of their actions. This is alarming because 10-20 years down the line; one won’t just have any record of one’s great grandparents, but no record of one’s father as well. This leaves a huge gap in one’s heritage. I fear this disappearance of fathers in today’s society may lead to more probing questions around identity for the future of our country.

There seems to be a generational pattern of erosion of identity and moral responsibility in today’s society. Which probes the question, where would one then find one’s identity? From struggling to place oneself in one or the other race to having no record of a father, certainly eradicates one’s identity?

I recently had the pleasure, along with my fellow team mates, of visiting Drakenstein Palliative Hospice (DPH) day care centre called Butterfly House near Paarl. This phenomenal day care centre is run by Elizabeth Scrimgeour, a great friend of SAWIP. Upon arriving at the Hospice we were pleasantly surprised by an organised march involving the children, staff and youth of Butterfly House. Instead of sitting down in a dialogue or presentation like so many of our activities, we got our hands dirty and took part in an exciting and joyful march around the community to celebrate the 21^st anniversary of the DPH and the contributions it has made to the upliftment of society. Walking through the streets of this impoverished community, I noticed a lot of things, one of which was seeing shacks and brick houses in the same street, opposite one another. During a discussion later that afternoon Elizabeth told us that the entire community was solely informal and only recently have decent houses been built. I found it fascinating watching the children play and sing and being so care-free. With the majority of them living in dysfunctional homes, one would never have guessed this simply because of their joy and the wonderful talent that they have. These kids certainly made me reflect on my childhood and I saw myself in many of them.

What isn’t obvious about Butterfly House is the impact it is having on the identity of these children. I recently stressed this; that if you really want to help somebody living in poverty, to make a success of their life, you have to take them out of that environment and constantly expose them to something better...to hope. In other words, make hope almost tangible through constant exposure to inspirational and uplifting people and activities. This hope then shapes the minds of these children and subsequently their identity and where they see themselves in society and the future.

Through the various activities and amazing people working at the Butterfly House, these young children are finding a new identity. They are finding a more worthwhile sense in Ubuntu (I am because you are) and Ubuntu is becoming ever more positive in the lives of these youngsters.

If one cannot find identity in one’s heritage or past then there is still hope, because there is identity in one’s future, dreams and vision. I was able to find identity in my family and heritage, but it was not the identity I wanted to have, because the only identity I saw was being poor and inferior. However, through hope I created a new identity, I found identity in the man I must become, in the leader I am meant to be. I strongly believe it is this identity that needs to be instilled in the hearts and minds of our society. We are all aware of our South African history and heritage, but we should no longer look back and establish for ourselves who we are, rather look ahead and ask who must I become? In this way our children and their offspring may find this new identity that we are shaping right now. This I believe is our legacy.

“Hope has wings. Butterfly wings” – Butterfly House