A true inpiration..

21 November 2014

Today, I am finding it hard to express the kind of joy that I feel about this post, as it is very relevant to the topic of this blog. I want to tell you about a very special person, Mr Siphatho Handi.

I read an article about him and the soccer club he currently is with, Relatives FC that’s situated in Mdantsane. It was last week's Friday Daily Dispatch in the sports section.

The man is known for producing boxing Olympians at Amateur level and world champions in the professional rank. However, he is now focusing on soccer so that he could produce future Bafana Bafana stars from Mdantsane.

The team he is investing in plays in the SAB Regional league. When he was asked by the Daily Dispatch why he was doing this now, he said he saw the need to go back to football primarily for two reasons. To ensure that there was youth development and secondly they needed security in their community because at the time NU3 was ravaged by crime. He said they felt they needed to organize young people in their community to make sure they kept themselves busy with something constructive, away from crime.

Another reason he chose to come back to soccer was because some parents of the community pleaded that he did, as their children didn’t know how to play boxing, something which makes sense as we cannot all be interested in the same things.

He says his aim is to recruit players only from Mdantsane, they are a community team. He feels that opportunities must be given to the local boys.

He is the one that bought the SAB status with the aim of motivating youngsters. Just as I have mentioned in my previous posts, it becomes really difficult for players that come from Mdantsane to emerge to higher leagues, many players give up on their dreams of playing professionally. As I also said, some people might not be as gifted as others academically, so it is best that they succeed in somethings they are really good at and passionate about. Therefore, because he acknowledges that he has made it his mission to create opportunities of this sort.

It is evident that he is all about development, spotting talent, nurturing it and helping those youngsters to be whatever they wish to be.

 There’s nothing painful to me than seeing someone who was regarded as the best of what he could do, poor, a drunkard or and someone with no hope, who’s just living because he is still breathing. I like what this man has done, he is a God sent. I wish people could learn from this and do the same, not necessarily in soccer or sports at large, but also in other aspects. I’m truly inspired, I hope you have too out there.  

13 October 2014

Today I thought of the road that I have traveled to get to where I am now. I might not be far, but I am definitely somewhere great, somewhere someone else wishes to be, I am in university doing a diploma in Journalism. I have come a long way, I have been through hell and back before I decided what I really wanted to do in life.

During the time I was growing up, just like many others I dreamed of becoming many things in life like, a doctor, scientist, a sportsman, an artist and so on. The biggest mistake I made was when I decided to go and do Nature Conservation. To be honest, at the time I was really desperate, I had spent the whole year doing nothing, no work, nothing at all. I remember that I had always wanted to do something involving Life Sciences (Biology), at least that’s what I thought would be the core of the course I wished to pursue. I thought the course would have many aspects involving Life Sciences as a field of study, without having done proper research.

I went to university to study it and it was hell. I spent that year failing, not attending, partying, doing all sorts of things that a less-interested student could do. I didn’t like the subject at all, not even a little bit.

I sat down and thought of the things that fascinated me, things that I enjoy doing. I enjoy music, sport, researching, I like finding out about things, I enjoy communicating, mostly I like telling stories, I like engaging in positive talks, ones that develop and inspire people. I have always viewed myself as someone who is a motivator. I wish to have my own talk show or my own slot on radio or television, whereby I would chat with people about the problems we face in South Africa and the rest of the world.

That is how I decided to do what I am doing now. I know Journalism is a broad field. I might end up in other parts of it like print, where I wouldn’t get the chance to share my own views and be subjective. However I would really love to have a show which would allow me to interact with people and probably help them deal with whatever problems they might have, or the problems we face every day as a country. I wish to be like Sibusiso Leope (DJ Sbu) and play a role in developing other people’s lives. I wish to have a show which I would discuss all that I share with people on this blog.

This post might not seem like I am developing anyone now, but it is. I want people to be sure of what they want and do in life, as every decision we make affects the whole of our lives. I want schools to be there for students who have to make career decisions, parents as well in communities. All the above should teach someone somewhere something, so that they do not make the same mistakes I made.  

Not all dreams come true!!!

06 November 2014

They say in life one must always dream in order to become someone, that one must turn those dreams into goals and work towards achieving them. Some make it seem as if whoever dreams enough will make it in life. It is not the case for some people, and yeah I know what people say when one has failed to achieve their goals, they would say that person never tried hard enough. That might be the case, but sometimes that person might have been deprived of opportunities to deliver.

I grew up having many dreams, but mostly all of them were based on the things that I saw I had talents in. I could draw, sing and dance. I remember one time I was so in to music, wishing that I was going to use it together with my dancing ability to be like the late Micheal Jackson. I attended an arts center where I reside, and saw no much progress made by the people that try to sing where I live, as a matter of fact we have very few people that made it into the music industry where live, in Mdantsane.

Times changed, and I fell in love with soccer. I was so in love with it that I could not think of anything else that I could do but to play it. It was what I ate, what I dreamed of at night, it was all I thought of during the day. In the morning, I would be at school, or on campus and I wouldn’t wait for the time that I would go to gym.

I was not alone of course. My friends, fellow students and people from my area, were all in to the sport that we even dreamed of playing professionally for teams that we have today nationally, we even dreamed bigger to play for teams overboard, like the likes of your Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Unfortunately none of us are even playing in the National First Division. Why? I say it’s lack of support from the relevant people in these departments. I fail to understand why talent search teams would omit some places, what about other people who cannot make it to those selected places due to lack of money.

The Nedbank Keyona team search only visited a few places in Eastern Cape. Why? East London has soccer fields if that was to be their excuse for example. Not only this type of talent search does this, even for music, acting, singing and so on, for example the Idols SA have never been to East London, they like the Nedbank Keyona Team search end up in Port Elizerbeth. Rural areas suffer mostly due to this. Now hear me out, I’m not saying no talent searches ever take place in places like these, however there’s a short percentage which does, even if there would be selected people they never really make it that far.

It’s not that the Eastern Cape lacks talent, I feel it is not focused on that much.

I find it so ironic that the government and relevant people would fight violence and crime by NOT giving people what they need, a CHANCE to succeed through what they are GOOD at, there’s a lot of talent in the Eastern Cape, and there’s still going to be a lot, pity that people won’t really go far, they’ll only “DREAM” of being best, this country favours some people and places.

Education goes a long way.

28 October 2014

In the apartheid era, it is said that Black people here in South Africa were deprived of many opportunities by the then government, one of them included education. What could one possibly do without knowing? There’s a saying that goes if you know better, you do better. This applies everyday in our lives. To make a simple example, take opening a door for instance. In order for one to do that, they would need to know how it is opened. They wouldn’t automatically know how to open it even though they had no experience of opening it at all, whether of seeing it being opened in front of them or they being shown how to open it. Some are slid-over, some are pulled and some are pushed, and usually, many would have signs showing people how to open them. If a person is uneducated, they wouldn’t be able to read the sign at the door denoting how they could open it. Coming to the point, that’s exactly how important education is to people, we basically cannot function without it. Education enables one with capabilities, it gives them capacity to open many “doors”.

Freedom came, South Africa became liberated, and education was now accessible to everyone, including the Black nation. What I see happening now though is the exact opposite of what was happening back then. People nowadays toy with education, we do not take it seriously. This is merely because many of us now weren’t part of the struggles that led to this freedom we have today. Just because many of us as the youth of today are educated in a way, we don’t know then how it feels like being uneducated, we could never know how it felt like being a black man then, we can only imagine it.

If there’s one thing that troubles me really, it is the level at which pupils are just dropping out of school. Where I live there are many, and now they have turned to alcohol and drugs, that is all they know. It bothers me so much that I wish I could do something, anything. I suggest that the schools together with the government find ways to motivate students to stay at school, they could do that through making them enjoy both their academic work together with activities they could be involved in. Schools nowadays aren’t encouraging sports, arts and what not. At least if a person doesn’t do that well at school, they could be motivated to do so through performing better at these extra activities. They could use both the activities and their academic record to score a place in universities that would allow them to persue their careers at either of the two or all together.  

21 October 2014

Equality is far from being reached in the Eastern Cape

Why is it that we are called an equal nation when I see nothing that says we are? There might be something that we all share, however, people who don’t have money are still the ones that suffer. It is clear to see that people with money are the ones more comfortable living than ones who don’t. I am not saying people should just be handed things to or given money; however, it is useless to say that we are all equal when there’s a lot of unemployment in underprivileged places like the Eastern Cape. Not so long ago, in the previous quarter, this province was regarded to be the most hard hit by unemployment.

I will always refer to my hometown when I am talking about issues like this as it is the only place I know the most, since I haven’t really traveled a lot.

 Here's another issue. Where I live in Mdantsane, I personally think schools there are not up to standard in terms of education, infrastructure, facilities and extra mural activities. The education the students get there is not the same as the one the kids in suburbs receive. Why is it that a student who studies in a school in the suburbs will have better chances of being enrolled for a course in university than one who comes from a village school or one in the townships? Why is it that the students who study in the suburbs perform better in their exams than the ones from underprivileged schools, why would they perform better even in sports played around the province and end up having more of a chance of being selected to play for national teams? I think it’s all with the standard difference between them; the money invested into the schools isn't the same. The schools in the suburbs have better infrastructures, better equipment, better education and so on, they are just better at almost everything.

One example of differences in facilities between the schools is the fields. In terms of infrastructure and facilities, it is clear that village and township schools are at the bottom class. The fields in the villages and townships are so not in good conditions, they are very uncomfortable to play or to compete in, while the ones in suburbs are up to standard.

I know these are things that have always been in the faces of people every time, I get that. I know people might be asking, why bring up issues that we are aware of?

The reason is mainly because I don’t see the changes that are said to have taken place over the years, I don’t see any improvement. Another is that it seems like we as the general public aren't doing anything about it. I want us to discuss possible ways to alter these things.

What do you think should happen now people? Clearly the strategies and leaderships in place now have failed us.

14 October 2014

There are a lot of things that trouble me about the Eastern Cape. I will not lie, I haven’t really traveled a lot and got to experience how other places’ conditions here are, however it’s no rocket science to prove that there’s a lot that has to be done here. Someone commented in one of my posts and suggested that people do not only need to depend on the government in order for them to develop themselves or to get something going, but should also try to educate themselves and find ways to create opportunities for themselves as they could find that there are many, but due to ignorance, those opportunities pass them by. I agree with that view, really sometimes we get to expect a lot to be done for us.

One example of someone who’s doing his work without government assistance is Vido Mtekwana who is from Mdantsane nu.8 and owns a gym there by the name Sisonke Boxing club. Today open/armature boxing isn't that much of a focus and is in danger of running out of funds. His gym might not be in perfect condition but has produced a number of talents in the sport and has been running since 1995. He is a teacher and is also a trainer and manager of the boxing club and has produced a number of talented fighters who are disciplined and schooled. Four out of ten boxers from there have represented South Africa in this year’s Commonwealth games. Under him are Siphiwe Lusizi, a welterweight southpaw who also took part in 2012’s London Olympic games, and female  world champion Noni Tempe, who’s had both titles at once, the World Boxing Federation and IFB welterweight crowns.

Mr. Mtekwana says open clubs are struggling financially and that the government only lands a helping hand when the fighters reach national championships. He says, “At grassroots, where things start, there is no support. This just shows you that we at open boxing level are doing a lot with very little”. To make matters worse for him, he has to make sure that the club stays alive by renting R 4000 a month, and that’s not the only amount he pays and to think that he only charges the fighters a fee of R 20 a month. Despite the hardships he faces, he still goes on, as he feels like it is his calling to help develop his community.

One can also think and do a lot of other things to develop their community, there are a lot of ideas that people have, and they just need to be implemented. I advise that people think about ways they can do things for themselves and give back to their communities. 

A broad, serious change is needed in the Eastern Cape.

07 October 2014

I still feel like there’s not enough being done to develop Eastern Cape underprivileged residents. Almost all activities end up going to places like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban. Talent scouts of all kind focus 'mostly' on those places, and exclude many Eastern Cape cities and townships, except in some instances Port Elizabeth.

I feel like there’s a lot of talk and no action, all you’d see are writings in websites, newspapers or listen to government officials talk nicely that there are plans that are going to be implemented aimed at developing the youth of today. In the end only a few places get to benefit from all of that. I see no change in the area that I live in and in the Eastern Cape in general.

Not all schools even participate in sports, even singing competitions and others that could encourage youth involvement in activities. The involvement of the youth in these things helps them learn many skills they could use in life. They learn to work in teams, they learn to accept one another for who they are, they learn to get along with each other. They also learn to respect their teachers, instructors, the general public and leaders of their communities. Besides all that, they get to feel passion for what they do, and have a sense of belonging as they would have peers and parents or siblings away from home. They also get a sense of feel of travelling to many places and enjoy the experience whilst learning to be champions and in the process forgeting about their difficult home situations and upbringings.

These activities are scarce nowadays, only a few schools and communities still practice them. This all results to the youth easily influenced by bad things they would see in the media and be encouraged to drink, smoke drugs, ‘have fun’, or spend money on expensive clothing like there’s no tomorrow. Instead, they should be paying attention to useful programmes, ones that could make them responsible adults some day. There isn’t that much change I see, all I see is people that I grew up with going to jail, dying, or being involved in wrong things. Another alternative from the government and communities is in serious need, a different approach. The government of today hasn’t really been that successful, as crime is still on the rise, there’s less transformation and more crime.