Making a change in my community.

(On the 1st of July I spoke to recipients of the FNB Bursary on certain issues. We did not receive enough time to go into all of the topics we were meant to discuss. I then decided to continue the conversation on the blog. The following is one of a series of blogs on the topic, “Making a change in your community.”)

One of the biggest mistakes I see from both my friends and other fellow varsity students is that we get degrees, we get jobs in the corporate world, people buy cars, live in good suburban homes, start to travel etc. but they stop being driven. They lose that fire they once had, that desire to make a difference, that desire to be a world changer, agent of change and confront the issues of the world head-on.

They achieve these wonderful things, and believe me these are worthy achievements...but they are not the end.
We are not mere intellectual beings, we are not mere professionals, we are so much more than that.
We are beings whose existence is connected to other beings.

One of the things I am sure about life, is that just as much as we have abundance on the inside of us, there is another voice on the inside of us and that is the desire to make a difference in the world.

I know I spoke about the voice of abundance, but another voice which is connected to the voice of abundance is the voice that says, “I can make a change in my generation.”
Equal to the hunger to make a mark in the world, is the hunger to make a change in the world.
Equal to the desire to be somebody is the desire to help someone else be somebody too.
It is there, we are born with it!

But what kills it, what kills the voice of change, the desire and hunger to make a difference?

Before I answer that question I must answer this one...briefly. “What kills the voice of abundance, what kills the voice that tells us we are great?”

There are 2 short answers I want to touch on:

1) Life: some of the challenges we face in life hit us so hard that we are forced to draw a conclusion that we are not as great as we (think) are. It may be the fact that you didn't get the marks you wanted in class, or you did not get into the university you wanted, or you got in but had to drop out because you realised that you did not love the course, or a relationship that failed and you got hurt, or a business that failed...all of these failures or struggles are enough to force some people to think of themselves, "as not so great after all”?

Some of these challenges are enough to make people abandon their dreams, and think, “Oh maybe I should be like everybody else and travel the road most travelled.”

2) The feared "Comfort Zone": The comfort zone is as horrible as the friend zone.
A person who is comparable to a person in a comfort zone is a person whose belly is full. I don't know if you've been really hungry, you know that growling hunger that forces you out of the comfort of your chair into the street to look for something to eat.
I don't care how comfortable you are, but if you are really hungry you will get up and make a plan. The effects of hunger are so lethal that in Zulu we have a saying that "Indlala ibanga ulaka" (directly translated means, hunger causes anger/violence/fury). All of us know or have experienced that it is not wise to mess with a hungry person, a hungry person will deal with you now, "Not yesterday, Today" *Leon Schuster Voice*

But there is a feeling on the opposite end of the spectrum, the feeling that one gets after they've just had a satisfying meal. After a meal, all I want to do is sit and relax as my digestive system goes into full gear.

That's the same with contentment, it kills the drive to go and look for food. It kills the drive to look for opportunities, for growth for development...so you're fine...you've got a pay cheque every month, why should you go to school and study some more. Why should you read all these books? Why should you develop yourself?

Just like food satisfies the drive for man to look for food to fill himself, so does contentment satisfy the need for man to look for tools of development and opportunities for growth.

Now what kills the voice of change, the voices to be agents of change?

Well that's even more complex...

1) Passing the buck:
I think during the transition of democracy, one of the biggest mistakes we all made, as a country , is we took to much power and/or responsibility and put it on government and politicians. That is one of the biggest mistakes that we all made. The job of building a country is too big for a political party.

In doing this we shifted the responsibility to institutions and made it their sole responsibility to fulfil some of the challenges in our country. This mistake was a grave one, because it also lead to people assuming that they need to be elected or hired into certain positions in order to make a difference.

The mistake of passing the buck to government has only served to exonerate us of the responsibility to play an active role in our society. And that's why we as a country are good at complaining, we cry about the quality of education, lack of leadership, lack of accountability. We do this because it makes us feel like the real failure is the government, and not us the society.

It is important to note that it is not political office that suffers directly when young people do not have the tools to express themselves and resort to drugs. It is the community that suffers when these young people resort to criminal activities in order to finance their habits. It is the community that suffers when young ladies get pregnant at young ages and have to leave school early in order to support their children.


2) Exodus:
It is common knowledge that when most young people dream, they dream to leave the township. There is nothing wrong with this, I would easily leave a double storey in Diepkloof to live in a Sandhurst mansion. And Soweto is a very advanced township, as President Mugabe alluded to: it is not a bar.
All townships were created to be oppressive, the system that created them was a well orchestrated system of oppression.

The problem though is the unintended consequences: When the good crop of people leave for the suburbs they leave behind a township that is short of role models. People to whom the young people will look up to, whom the young people will seek to model their lives around.
When the people who have the experience, skills and education to help alter the situation in townships and rural areas...leave the township, they leave a void that is hard to fill.
The same principle holds when they put their children in private schools, and participate in those school governing bodies...the result is the great divide between the private and public school education systems right now.

When the proverbial "out of sight out of mind" process happens, the desire for change is slowly overshadowed by other pending more urgent matters.
Both of these are contributing factors...the list is not exhaustive, there are other reasons, but these are the 2 most prevalent.

(To Be Continued…)

-Simon Mtsuki and Ziyanda Khumalo

When God Closes One Door

I'm sure many of us have heard or even used the cliche: "when God closes one door, He opens another."
Basically this phrase means that when an opportunity, or what seemed to be a great opportunity, is taken from you, God (or fate) will reward you with another one. This I believe, because I believe that God is too great and life is too long for the well-being of our lives to be dependant on one person, opportunity or 'big-break'. Our purpose is bigger than that.
The problem I have, however, is that this phrase does not fully capture the truth of reality, there is something missing.

There are 2 other important points that this cliche fails to capture:

1) Sometimes people are kicked out of doors.

Many of us for whom doors were shut, they were not shut under peaceful or serene circumstances. Some people were kicked out while they were still enjoying the fruits of comfort, after they had poured the 2nd teaspon of sugar into the tea and still salivating over the tastiness of the chocolate cookies.

Just as you were getting comfortable, you were dragged by the scruff of your neck and booted out.
Some people were dumped by people that they had already dreamt of a future with, others had already signed off on future life plans after grand promises were made.

Some people have been fired from jobs while they were still hoping for a promotion or whilst they were still strategising on the best way to fund their first car.

Some people were robbed of business ideas and plans, others were kicked out of contracts by conniving adminstrators that wanted a share in the spoils.

So the exit out the door is not as uneventful, as the phrase suggests. Sometimes the doors are not even closed, for some of us they are kept open so we can still witness the enjoyment that still occurs without us, for others the doors were slammed in their faces mid-sentence, just as they were about to motivate for their stay.

2) There is a very dark and long hall-way in between.
When the doors are shut, and you can still hear the slamming of the door ringing in your ears, you are stuck in a very long and dark hallway. That hallway is probably the darkest you will ever see, much darker and even longer than the fourth watch of the night.

Yes you heard that there is another door that will open for you, but the problem is the process is too long and confusing.

Trying to find your door in the dark is a pretty testing process, one that stretches your faith and tests your boundaries, one that involves a lot of trips and stumbles.

I know people who have been in the dark hallway for 3 or even 5 years, I know people who have even given up hope on the existence of another door and decided to get comfortable in the darkness. I have even heard of people who have even died in the darkness.
It's tough in the darkness.

The trick of the darkness is that one must be patient, persistent and have an ear for direction.
Don't lose heart in the darkness, don't doubt in the darkness, dont die in the darkness.

Because the truth is that the next door does exist, it is bigger than the previous one.

Behind it lies treasures and spoils never heard of before, that you had never even imagined with your mind.
When God closes one door, He doesn't just open one, instead He opens one, that leads into other doors of opportunity.

The intention with allowing the previous one to be closed is that you would've gotten so comfortable in Egypt while the land of Milk and Honey awaits.
If you hadn't been kicked out there you would've been comfortable with little when much awaits,
You would've been comfortable with being Good, when Greatness awaits.

So whether you're already in the darkness or are still about to be kicked into it, I just wanted to let you know that there is nothing wrong with being in the darkness. It's part of a mandatory process. Fall but don't stay down, fail but don't stop trying, cry but don't stop dreaming. Remember: The Other Door Awaits.

Passionate Performance

So this past Sunday I caught one of the very few Pop Idols shows I have watched in the entire lifespan of the show. I just can't bring myself to watch reality shows that capitalize and make revenue off people’s passion and talents. Some people have a genuine desire to sing and take their talent to the world, for some it is the only ticket out of their circumstances, so to make a show out of (some) peoples desperation, to play survival of the fittest, and knockouts with peoples lives is (to me) a manipulation of human beings and an offence to the Giver of talent. But that's just my 2 cents opinion, who cares what I think anyway?

Anyway back to my point, I saw some of the acts and fell asleep...and happened to wake-up half-way through one of the most passionate, fire-filled musical performances I’ve ever seen. It was that guy from KZN that everybody's been talking about, who started singing in church and has shared 'classical' gospel stages with the likes of Mthunzi Namba. Yes you know him, I won't name him because everybody will start thinking that my blog is a partisan blog created to influence the constitutionality and democratic process of the South African Idols. But it was a powerful performance, not one of the best, but with a great amount of dedication, fire and passion that I have witnessed in a while.

The man took us to church, transformed an 80's version of Otis Redding whopping 'Try a little tenderness'. He gave meaning to the song, 'stretching' and 'pulling' his voice to the maxim. Part of it was probably the desire to be voted in to the top 3 or 5 or whatever stages they are in. Another part of it was sheer passion, to transform himself, to pour himself and to 'forget about' himself for the sheer purpose of his art. And that was what made it a great performance.

The one lesson for me, from that one performance is that Mr. Joyous-Celebration-Guy-From KZN is dedicated to his craft and willing to pour his heart and soul out for its full expression. That's a trait that is really hard to come by these days. A complete and utter dedication to an art, a go big big OR home type of performance. Look I don't want to be drawn into the Idol-Politik, I am not part of any political camp or faction, but I do just want to say that Mr. Joyous-Celebration-Guy-From-KZN got me fired up about my art, and since then I've been thinking, "If you're not going to do it with oomph, with umjunju, with gusto, with passion, with fire then rather leave it undone. Don't waste your time and don't waste the time of the people who are depending on your deliverance.”

The Children of Children

The children of children by the time they’re half grown have habits like rabbits and young of their own The children of children from their mamas laps hop down to the ground to be taken in traps The children of children trapped by dark skins to stay in and play in a game no one wins The children of children while still young and sweet are all damned and programmed for future defeat The children of children are trapped by adults who fail them then jail them to hide the results The children of children unable to cope with systems that twist them and rob them of hope The children of children of sin and ashamed keep pairing and bearing and who do you blame The children of children cry out every day – they beg you for rescue and what do you say? Oscar Brown Jnr

An Opportunity's Lifetime

In 2007, my first year of Varsity I lived in the United States of Braamfontein (USB), I call it the United States because there is no other place in South Africa that has a diverse mix of people than Braam. Nigerians, Cameroonians, Vendanese, Zulus, Christians and Muslims all together in harmony. Braam was so harmonious in its diversity we even had a night club that served as a church on Sundays. Serious, ask around if you don't believe me.

Anyway, Braam's residents are predominantly young people that come from across Southern Africa to come to study, from Wits University to University of Johannesburg Campuses. From the so called Rosebank College (I still don't understand why they call it that when it's not even in Rosebank, but anyway) to Boston Business College, the only Gauteng institutions that were not available in Braamfontein were University Pretoria and Vaal University of Technology . Knowing the perpetual laziness and constant hungriness of students you probably know that take-aways would be the order of the day (excuse the pun). We chowed take-aways like nobody’s business and there were many outlets to cater to our stomachs and laziness, from Nandos to Steers to KFC, to those small Nigerian stores that sell that funny Nigerian food with the dumplings. Still, amidst the fattening variety there was a student favourite fast-food joint that was missing, "McDonalds". At times our Mcd's craving would get so wild that we had to catch taxi's to Auckland Park to satisfy the spicy chicken cajun fix.
My roommate and I felt this void and we devised a plan to try and get a Mcd's franchise into braam, considering the already growing market we had no doubt that we would make a killing off of it.
So we sought the franchise information out but were shocked when we found out that we needed approximately R3000 000 to buy the franchise, that put a big fat damper on our spirits. We didn't give up though, we purposed that an investor would probably be the best option to follow. After a while I got busy with school, and he got tied up at work...and we ended up forgetting about having a business relationship with Ronald McDonald.
Fast forward five years later as I was walking past what used to be the Indian jewellery store that I walked past every school day, stood a very big fat store packed to capacity, with a big yellow M on the front…somebody else had taken the initiative on something I had been procrastinating on. *sigh*

Procrastination is an evil thing don't you think? And it has affected us in so many different ways.

Thing is, when we procrastinate well enough we end up forgetting about our goals and are reminded about them when we see somebody else doing the exact same thing we once hoped to be doing...like building that unique business, or registering that degree or even going for that girl you didn't go for, she always looks more attractive in the arms of another punk doesn't she?
It’s even worse knowing that owner was not necessarily a better a businessman than you, or the other guy was not a better man than you...the only difference is they had the ability to take initiative faster than your sorry self.

The worste type of procrastination is when we delay until we forget, and ideas are the most spiteful things in the world. They don't just die unpursued, they go off and find somebody else that will pursue them relentlessly. Months later they pass by your home or job and flaunt "See what you missed brother?"

Many of us think that good ideas come to life because their good, because their noble but that is a butt load of bullocks. Ideas don't come to life because of how excellent they are but because of how excellently their pursued, that's why we have not-so good ideas coming to life. You can have the greatest idea but until it comes to life, it remains a theatrical performance in your mind.

You see ideas are like relationships, you must nurture them, love them and make sure they grow, if you don't...you'll find yourself like me, passing by a McDonalds that could've been yours.
I guess their right, The opportunity of a lifetime should be pursued in the lifetime of that opportunity.
-SGM

The State of Valentines Address:

Okay okay, so it's February the so called month of Love, which in reality is just another month like the Easters and Festive Season, that have been creatively designed by the capitalists to "induce" unsuspecting emotionally driven people into spending the little money they have left, on this crazy little feeling they like to call "Love.

The capitalists will always find ways to make you spend money, even when you have drawn in the sand, pinky promised and prayed yourself out of debt.
During festive season they get you to spend by telling you that it's Jesus' birthday, if Jesus' birthday is on the 25th why are you selling me a TV on the 3rd of December and 2.5kg's of flour on the 10th. If it's Jesus' birthday why am I buying somebody else a present and not Jesus', if it's Jesus' birthday why are you giving me a discount on a R1700 bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. Is it because Jesus turned water into wine?

*Watch abazalwane turn red*

Anyway when January comes everybody has spent their money, the bank account is acting funny and you're still recovering from all the hangovers from December. But its the first month of the year you get by on bread alone, your mother has asked you for money to help you take the brother back to school, you are hanging on the generous overdraft that the "kind" bank have given you, at 18% interest.
Through the struggles of January many people take the desperate vow to be more cautious of their spending, they vow to the Gods of money that they will never again spend R1200 trying to impress the ladies by buying a bottle of Jameson at the club, neither will they ever purchase that needless bottle of Channel perfume that costs twice the average monthly consumption of an average black family (Ref: National Planning Commission Report).

Just after that decision you get an sms from the bank informing you of the transfer of your salary or allowance... you are over the moon, and attempt an attempt at your promise, yet the devil of marketing will not leave you in peace. He keeps on showering you with images of roses, dinners, and chocolates all under the banner of LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
You talk to your girlfriend about this subject,
"I don't celebrate Valentines day" she says with that BBM not interested look on her face, "To me valentines day should be everyday." You reluctantly and suspiciously agree to this "strange" assertion, you actually add on to this statement by saying, " This day is just an excuse for people who actually don't love each other, to compensate for their lack of love by buying over-priced gifts and eating over priced steaks, consuming over-priced wine and making passionate sex,"
To which she reluctantly and suspiciously agrees.

At this stage the suspicion is on both sides.

I would like to warn all males that have found themselves in this suspicious, unfortunate and nature induced quandary called "Romantic Relations" to never ever fall into the trap of believing that your girlfriend is cool enough to not want a valentines gift. I don't care if your girlfriends cool is like NickiMinaj, Queen Latifah and Claire Mawisa's mixed in one, I don't care if she hates weaves, drinks Heineken and listens to the Roots, that woman wants a gift.

Your girlfriend might not breakdown in front of you when she finds out you really didn't buy the gift, on Tuesday, but these are the most likely repercussions of your ignorant cheap behaviour:
1) She will go home and cry her eyes out until the morning,
2) She will report you to the Bureau of Bad Boyfriends (BBB), an international organization that blacklists all bad men who have been horrendous boyfriends. Women who want marriage- material men will first check the BBB and then the Credit Bureau. Men who have been known to be on the BBB list are people such as Dingane Thobela, Jub Jub, Ike Turner, Mike Tyson, Chris Brown, Bobby Brown and Arthur Mafokate.

3) She will always keep you at arms length, no touching no feeling, no caresses no nothing. And after those long nights together you will get nothing more than a Holy-Christian-Sister hug followed by a "Thanks and God Bless You" after you have just confessed your love.

3) You will find a very long scratch on your car that starts from the boot to the front, with the letters "Jackass" tattooed on the bonnet.

When you add the cost of all the above, you will realize that buying a pack of roses and box of chocolates is a lot less than the suffering that you will endure if u don't.
So do the right thing player, just purchase the prezie, while some of us who are not in relationships sit in amusement as the Gods of Capitalism have a feast on your emotional blackmail.

MWAHAhahahahahahahah.

Parents the Provokers

I was reminded a couple of weeks ago about the importance of scripture by a certain speaker who had come to our church who, during the heart of his sermon, just as he was about to pull out a biblical stunt like all prophets do, he said something that really stuck with me, "All scripture is important...." Later on as we were sipping on some juice, he went as far as to say the book of Numbers was equally important to the book of Corinthians. WHAT? The book of numbers? The book of numbers? Surely he was joking! The beginning of the book of numbers is like a biblical class register, where God documents all his homies? I've tried to read the book of Numbers once, I read it until I realized that this was a census, the only thing missing was income, education and employment rates, then I paged to David and Bethsheba, you know some real soapy and scandalous stuff, Bold and the Beautiful style.

Anyway I took that statement to heart and have approached all scripture more analytically ever since.
You can imagine the revelation-overflow when I came across a piece of scripture in the book of Ephesians 6:4 that said:
"And, ye fathers (note: other versions say parents), provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

I was astounded by this piece of scripture, I had to whoop out my more analytical bible the Amplified Version and it quoted:
"Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord."

Honestly, the people who are entrusted to share on the pulpit the precious mysteries of God have neglected to quote this piece of scripture. Maybe because they are part of the gang being referred to.
Too many times have we heard the echo of,"Children honour your parents, so you may live longer." This piece of scripture was drummed down my throat since before I could read or write, to Sunday School, right till I celebrated my 21st, but never ever have I heard any pastor preaching about our parents provoking us. The preaching is extended fr chom to our traditional black families. In any black family whether it be Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa or Swati (I don't know about the Chinese and Indians), disrespecting an elder is the equivalent of 1st degree murder. I have heard elders referring to a disobedient as aft child as if he had leprosy, "Stay away from that child, he will contaminate you with his, disobeying-his-mama-ritis." One of my aunts even went as far as to threaten to revoke my family membership if I ever disobeyed my mother again, alas she did not ask what my mother had done for me to disobey her word.

You would swear that the only people who ever do wrong in the parent-child equation, are the children. The weak chains in the link are the offspring and the Allmighty- Parents are never prone to wrong-doing.
The graphic language that Paul uses in his statement is, 'provoke to wrath', I don't mean to take you on an english lesson but wrath is a pretty strong term, and behold it was used by an Apostle of the living God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

How do our parents provoke us, well they provoke us when they:
Promise us one thing and then turn around and break their promise, after we had put all our trust in them
When they talk to us like we are little kids
When they undermine our hopes and dreams and substitute them for their own
When they refuse to listen to our side of the story
When they unreasonably favour one sibling over another, I mean if you didn't want the other one why didn't you just kill her instead of putting her through the pain of watching her suffer this horrid injustice.
When they are adamant they are right, when they are blatantly wrong.
The list goes on.

One thing that parents should learn is that the fact that they birthed us, and raised us with sweat blood and tears, does not absolve them from the laws of right and wrong, of the golden rule: Treating others as you would want to be treated.
We want to respect them and even though our respect for them may not necessarily end but it diminishes everytime they do us un-repentantly wrong.
But then again what do I know, I am a child right?