BACK HOME WITH THE AMERICAN LESSONS

It took a trip to the US for me to realise just how truly blessed we are as South Africans and how much potential we have in terms of development. Ever since I came back from the United Sates of America, I started looking at my country from different lenses, lenses of untold possibilities of a far better future than I could possibly have imagined. The SAWIP experience in the US really broaden my horizon, it got me thinking about a lot of things, questioning a lot of things, including my thoughts and views.

During my time in Washington, I saw my country from a different perspective, I saw my country through the eyes of an outsider and I realised just how far we have come to be where we are, and the fruition of our past is an indication of the potential we posses going forward. I realised that sometimes being in South Africa and being overwhelmed by the problems facing our country can blind one from seeing the beautiful things that we have given birth to and consequently end up complaining and losing the South African pride. I realised that sometimes we need to take a moment to reflect and look around us so we can realise what an amazing environment we have in this nation.

Ever since I came back from the US, besides being asked by my peers and family whether I met Obama, people are more eager to know about the lesson I learnt from the trip and what contributions am I going to make to my society. My response to them is that while in America I have learnt that the American people are politically informed and that citizens are collectively involved in the betterment of their country. The people in the United States do not stand by and wait for the government to do things for them, they stand up and make things happen for themselves and that the role of the government is to support the people in their endeavours to make America better, and that is the secret behind their success. The communities are the ones that drive the country, it is young individuals who are empowered, encouraged and supported by the Government to come up with innovative ideas to develop the country economically and socially. It is the citizens that are encouraged and supported to educate themselves so that all will have the skills necessary to better the nation. The concept of the American dream is still alive and all work towards achieving it, the citizens are proud of their country and one sees the American flag proudly waving outside at almost every household in America and that symbolises the pride of the American people. Government accountability is at the heart of the nation, the government is conscience of the fact that it works for society and that society deserves to know what the government does at all times, for almost every decision made by government affects the people, one way or another.

This is what is lacking in South Africa, people are not politically involved, people are not active citizens of their country and people always look upon government for solutions and they do not take the initiative to come up with solutions themselves. I came to realise that in South Africa we have what I will term “The parent and child relationship” where the state is the parent and the citizens the children, we are always looking upon the parent to come up with answers for everything and we don’t dare question the parent when they are squandering the family assets. I think the time has come where we need to inform ourselves of what is going on in our country, for if we do not know what the problems are, it becomes difficult to act.

On June 16, we as the SAWIP family spent the day at the South African Ambassador to the US, Mr Rasool`s residence to celebrate one of the most historic and symbolic days of our history, the youth day. On this day we had a lot of non South African guests; it came as a shock to me to find out how much about South Africa they knew, some knew more about South Africa than I did. I started questioning myself particularly my knowledge about my country. How can I make a positive difference if I am unaware of some of the current issues in South Africa? Since being back, I gave myself the challenge of keeping myself well informed about the challenges facing South Africa and the potential solutions proposed by government and any other relevant information. In order to be an active citizen, we ought to be aware of what is happening in our country, for an active citizen is an informed citizen.

Through exposure, interaction and dialogue, I have consumed a lot of knowledge in America and I am going to share everything I learnt with as many young people as possible, encourage them to be informed about their country and develop a positive attitude towards development in South Africa. I have already shared a lot with my peers and they now sound eager to take the initiative to make this country one to be proud of.

I know that we are not Americans and we should never try to be Americans. However, there remains a lot to be learnt from them as a developed country. My call to all South Africans is that we should take the time to inform ourselves, from there, the concept of being active will be activated. Its time for us to realise that we are our only hope and that no God is going to appear out of no where and make things better, God grants us the ability to make change, we ought to develop the will ourselves. These are our challenges; it is up to us to come up with solutions for them. I have come to realise that no one is going to give us the destiny that our bones so crave for, we need to give it to ourselves.