“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” - Winston Churchill

After our last SAWIP debrief we all walked away feeling the same appreciation, joy and sadness as we did upon leaving Washington D.C. just a little over two months ago. It was amazing hearing from everyone what their highlights were, there was a huge sense of appreciation and humbleness in the room as our time together as a team drew to a close. In all honesty I still can’t fully comprehend the fact that I went through this incredible experience. If someone had told me a year ago I would be a part of this program and be the person I am today, I surely would have laughed at them. But here I am and fascinated by the amount of growth that I went through. What was most inspirational was the letters we received from management. These letters were from ourselves to ourselves written at the start of the program on orientation camp. Upon receiving it most of us had long forgotten what we wrote down, but as some of us read it, we could not help but be moved to tears by our own words.

I really felt that I grew immensely in the last six months and this letter genuinely affirmed that. This is the first paragraph I wrote down in the letter to myself and before I had passed my undergraduate degree;

“I want you to know that you did it, you broke the pattern, raised your standards and reached the highest mark of your young academic and personal career. Right now I still feel a little insecure and unconfident, but you will have acquired the confidence and positive attitude to make a change.”

These words accurately reflect my experience and growth on SAWIP. We all have grown so much. If I just look at some of my team mates and compare how they were the first time we met on selection camp to the people they are now, it’s a significant difference. We love to say that we are so different than we were, but I would like to say we are more the same than we have ever been. We are more our true selves than we ever were before, all that changed is the opinions and stigmas of others, we carried around with us, has fallen away and we have revealed unto ourselves who we truly are. It’s absolutely impossible to put into words the impact SAWIP has had on all our lives. I hope that these blogs, although they don’t do justice to it, will to some extent convey how we have grown.

Thank you once again to everyone who has made this a memorable experience.

Being a part of SAWIP and having gone through 95% of the curriculum, one has to look back and wonder; how did it all go by so quickly? Being around the phenomenal people that are my team mates and friends I feel abundantly blessed. Thinking back to all the people we met and relationships that were forged I count myself amongst the most fortunate in the world.

I am sure every one of us on the team recognises and appreciates this privilege. As we are moving towards graduation and look back on this journey, I am equally sure we are thinking of the next step, the next challenge that lies ahead. As individuals all of us will have a different answer to this and even though I don’t know what those answer are, I would like to draw a common thread through all of them; we must live up to the hope, faith, trust and expectations that have been placed upon us. Regardless what our endeavours may be, I believe our purpose through all this is to live above the norm, to lead and not follow, to conquer our inherent need to blend in so that we may stand out and shine. I remember being in school and hearing these words from a motivational speaker; "Don’t live to be ordinary. Strive to be extraordinary.”

I want to appeal to my team mates to keep these words close to heart, to keep the flame alive. We have an inherent need to feel like we belong and blend in, but there is yet another more pressing need we are less aware of, the need to let our light shine and be authentic. I believe SAWIP has been instrumental in awakening us to this truth about ourselves. Yes, we may have been aware of this before SAWIP, but through SAWIP we have been set alight to this greatness we poses. We have not only been inspired and enlightened but also empowered. I believe we have to use this empowerment to rise above the limits of our society, and not live under dogma, but to challenge the status quo and plot a new course for our country, starting with ourselves.