Congressional Forum: Speech

Ngiyanibingelela nonke zihlobo ezihloniphekileyo (I greet you all, honorable guests).

My name is Nondumiso Phenyane and I would like to start off by saying it is a true honor to stand before you this evening. My presence in this in this program and in this room speaking before you is in fact not just an honor, but a true miracle to me. Who would have thought that a girl like me- raised with pension money and profits made from selling cabbages - would be standing here delivering a speech in such a prestigious venue in the midst of such greatness. I will have you know that I am indisputably taken aback.

I am standing before you today because I made it into SAWIP. Goint into SAWIP, my intentions were very clear; I was aware of the challenges that we were facing as South Africans- I grew up in a township and was bread under the shadow of crime. As a matter of fact, in my SAWIP application I mentioned that crime was so prominent in my community that my younger sisters and I would often make jokes about how “we lived with hardcore criminals.” Just a block away from our house lived the guy who murdered his own mother; just two houses away was the one whose core specialty was stealing cars. We would make these jokes, not because we thought that what was happening was ok, but because we needed to find a sense of humor in a somewhat hopeless situation.

My mother died of AIDs when I was 13. Having watched her closely, I know the cruelty of HIV & AIDS when unmanaged- how it can strip you of your very soul and leave you without a life at all. Last year, my two younger sisters literally watched our older sister also die of AIDS. As you can imagine, dealing with this incident was not very easy for my family. I tell you these things to show you that South African struggles for me were not a phenomenon that I watched from a distance, they were very close to my heart. And so coming into SAWIP was not merely about having great discussions, coming to DC or meeting all of these incredible people. It was about discovering how these problems could be addressed. I did not go into the program seeking a better reality for myself, but rather with one key question in my mind: HOW can we address these challenges?

I needed to start the journey towards finding out how I was going to light the candles of the many young men I left back home with blood-shot eyes because of the drugs they were consuming. I needed to know how my contribution would help young girls realize that their sole happiness did not lie in a man; that just because they had babies on their laps did not mean that the world had come to an end. I needed to see change but most importantly, I needed to see where I could fit into that change.

It must have been two months into the program, while in South Africa, that I began to feel I was slowly unlocking the intangible doors to this unrequited question, and it was me realizing my own strengths. I realised that I could be the most talented, most powerful, most reputable person in the world; the whole world could hail my greatness. But if I, myself, didn’t discover it for myself, if I did not believe it for myself, than it would all be in vain. I found myself experiencing an uplifting because of this like most young people in South Africa, I did not grow up in an invironment that nurtured my strengths. SAWIP showed me that sure, I needed a lot of work but more important than this, it showed me that I was good enough! It showed me that I AM capable and that I possess something that could potentially change the world. I have discovered that when we know our strength we become invincible; we become fearless, and because of this, we are better able to change the world. I truly believe that anyone who becomes anything less than great does so because they have not discovered who they truly are.

Beyond the mighty legends who believed that the unrealistic was realistic during a time when the impossible was a way of life, I am also inspired by the ‘ordinary’ individuals who work untiringly to ensure peace and stability in our communities. The mothers who single-handedly raise sons and daughters, the grandmothers who raise grandchildren, the teachers who educate future generations. They prove to us that ‘ordinary’ people are capable of doing extraordinary things. And it is because of them that I believe that we can achieve greater peace, stability, and equality. We can achieve a better Africa.

I know the strength of the African people; I saw it in my grandmother’s eyes as she picked up the hoe and made her way to the fields everyday so that we could have food every evening. I saw it on her brittle hands as she picked up the axe to sever the wood so we could keep warm. It lay somewhere in between her neck and her chest as she cried “thula, thula, kuzolunga’ when life had thrown its bricks at us.

It lies somewhere between the Cape Agulhas and Ras ben Sakka, trickles down to the Horn of Africa and stretches out into the streets of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It is indeed a marvellous energy, and it moves right across the land, unhindered.

It is my hope that my presence here will mean change in somebody’s life in my country. As our DC journey comes to an end, I hope that everyone who has contributed to our experience, will realize just how much of an impact they have had in our lives.

Ngiyabonga