Addressing a United Nations gathering on the importance of education for women was one of the highlights of my reign...
Addressing a United Nations gathering on the importance of education for women was one of the highlights of my reign. Education means everything to me. It takes people out of the world of want and into the land of possibilities. So when I was asked to speak at the UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum in Paris I leapt at the opportunity. My topic was why the education of girls and young women is of critical importance, everywhere in the world, but especially on the African continent.
I explained how education changed perspectives, and informed decisions. As way of example, I sketched a picture for the global audience by telling my own story… I grew up in a South African village where conversations, or even references to AIDS or HIV were considered taboo.
Even the very utterance of the word AIDS made people very uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable.
People were dying of this unknown killer disease and everyone was terrified. But nobody was allowed to talk about it. Nobody was allowed to learn how to protect themselves against it. A fear of stigmatisation created the conspiracy of silence.
That, I told the UN Women’s Forum, was an example of why their Education Plus Joint Initiative needed to be endorsed.
It was only through education that the stigma and the fear that spread through communities, both rural and urban, was removed.
I expressed my firm belief that African problems need African solutions and that African women need to be active participants in effecting the change they want to see in their country, and on the African continent.
Education is the tool that is instrumental in bringing about the change that empowers women: when you educate the girl child you educate a nation.
Graduation
I wept the day graduated. It was a special day for my family, and especially poignant for me in that it was the fulfilment of a promise that I had made to the woman I have loved most in the world, my great grandmother, my beloved Gugu.
She could not read, but she bought me my first book so that I could. She could not write, but she put a pen in my hand to ensure that I could. The privilege of being raised with love and the unshakeable belief that I could be anyone I chose to be, do anything I chose to do, is beyond measure.
Earning my BA Honours in International Relations from leading South African institution of higher learning, the University of the Witswatersrand (Wits), honoured my entire village.
“It was my great privilege to be a speaker at the Forbes Woman Africa 2021, Leading Women Summit. My topic, stopping mental health from being a taboo subject and making it one that is openly discussed in public forums, struck a chord. I also had the honour, during my year of reign, to work with Global Citizen on issues of mental health.”Growing up in Ha-Masia, deep in the heart of Vhembe District in Limpopo, my Gugu always stressed that education was a fundamental stepping-stone to success.
I was doubly honoured that, during a period when Covid-19 prevented an in-person graduation ceremony, the Wits Vice-Chancellor, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi invited me onto a national platform to share my views on a topic that is important to me, mental health. It was one of the most humbling stand-out moments of my year of reign.
