We live in a country which is rich in resources and full of people with great potential. Read how South African immigrants have risen to key leadership roles in the United States. Imagine if we could invest our time and energy into the people who are still living in South Africa? We will change our country and impact the world.

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We have all heard the expression “What you sow is what you reap”. We will reap a future for South Africa with the choices that we make today.

“We know not where we’re going,
Our choices will decide –
It’s not the destination
It’s the glory of the ride”

Reconciliation is the key to opening the door to a good future for our country. Reconciliation is an inspiring idea but unless we practice it in the true sense of the word, we are going nowhere, or worse still, our future will be on a slippery slide to nowhere – a vision that none of us want for South Africa – this country that we love.

The word “reconciliation” means “bringing together again in friendship”. In this country we have astonishing models for this. There are those who are famous such as Mandela, but there are hundreds of unknown people who are reaching out to one another every day, who are giving their time and resources to teach those who have nothing the means to look after themselves.

Reconciliation on the outside might look difficult but in truth it is very simple. It boils down to making the right choices for you and for those who are affected by your choices. Your heart knows the correct answer. Your future will be generated by the choices you make in every moment of your life. The correct choices need courage, sincerity and the ability to
stand up for what is right, regardless of what others may think.

At the end of the day it is all very clear. Treat every person you meet in the way that you would like to be treated, disregarding the divisions of colour, culture or political affiliation. Treat every stranger you meet as a friend that you have not yet got to know. This is the way to reconciliation.

After all, we are all South Africans, and our future is not a place that we are going to but a place that we are going to create.

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Zodwa Khumalo and I walk together in the early morning before our work day begins. When we meet, as one person recognising another, there is no sense of black and white, no definition of colour. Our differences fall away. We walk and talk together and laugh until the tears roll down our cheeks. This is the world of oneness. We then move freely between our different worlds, no longer defined by colour – we see each other as South Africans.

“To judge people by the colour of their skin, their faith or their ideologies is to be willfully blind…..South Africa will progress and prosper when we accept each other in our diversity. We will then become the great country that we have it in us to become.” – Di Smith

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Yesterday Calvern Kuziyamisa and I had the privilege of listening to a talk by Clem Sunter at Cedara
College, just outside of Pietermaritzburg.

We had a brief chat to Clem after his talk. He has endorsed the initiative that Awesome SA is
launching in mid-April called TOGETHER SA – BUILDING OUR FUTURE. We wanted to get his
consent to go public with what he had to say which is as follows:

“I think that Together SA is a brilliant initiative because it combines the power of the social media
with the underground revolution that is taking place in this country- ordinary people rolling up
their sleeves to become active citizens in the pursuit of creating a better life for all. Well done in
giving real power to the real people”

Bono has recently given a TED Talk which we believe will go viral, especially as he mentions Nelson
Mandela’ s message to the world in 2005 – “Be that great generation that overcomes that most
awful offence of humanity, extreme poverty. ”

Our generation want s to be the generation that changes the world for good.

Have a look.

Source

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I live with a husband who is fanatical about football and I work with a man who is fanatical about football – the beautiful game.

Ask either of them about The English Premier League , Spanish LaLiga, or the European Champions League or the Orange Africa Cup of Nations being held right now on South African soil, and they will tell you anything you might want to know about the game. They’ve memorised the teams, the results, the scores, the players, the yellow cards, the coaches and the history.

So here we were, dressed in our Bafana Bafana support gear heading off to the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Reminiscent of 2010 – the Orange Africa Cup of Nations once again highlighted the spirit of our people. It was great to be among the throngs of South Africans singing, dancing and blowing vuvuzelas all the way into the stadium with the high hopes of Bafana Bafana winning.

Now we may not have won our way into the semi-finals yesterday but throughout the match South Africans of every social standing, culture and colour stood together behind our national team. We were not black, Indian, coloured or white – we were one people standing together as South African’s.

Once again I could not help thinking as I stood shoulder to shoulder with other South Africans that we want most to believe in ourselves. We want to stand proud with whom we are – no longer defined by colour but by whom we represent – the people of South Africa.

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