Today is the last day at our internships and I can confidently say that never would I have imagined how much one can learn in six weeks time. First, hearing that I’m interning at Habitat for Humanity, I saw a picture of me building houses out in the needy areas of DC. A day before work started I learned that it is the Government Relations and Advocacy Office where I will be serving. The working experience proved to be one that stretched my competence and had given me exposure to the operations of a professional working environment. Through not only working in office but going to media panels on development in Africa, NGO coalition conferences, attending public hearings and lobby meetings on Captol Hill, I have received an abundance of exposure to the non-profit sector and workings of the developing world. I am very thankful for the staff at the Habitat for Humanity International office that accomodated me, contributing to making this work experience excitingly educational!

 I saw a sign the other day: “AIDS is DC’s Katrina”. I have spoken with homeless panhandlers on the street and had the opportunity to step into their world. I have spent time in the Presidents White House with my fellow South Africans in a meeting with his special assistant on Africa and a senior advisor. I have observed the rich living beside the poor and seen that this is an universal phenomenon. Global citizenship is a term we have heard excessively throughout our time in Washington and I think it is a valid one. For we are all human beings living on the same earth. The injustice of young girls being trafficked and sold into sex-slavery in Thailand directly influence you and me, regardless of where we live. The 11 million orphans trapped in a deep, lifeless, sleep in the dust of Africa while many others are brainwashed and recruited by warlords to be child soldiers killing everything they are told to are issues that should compell our thought and action. Our culture needs to be reformed to one of caring through love.

On Monday President Barack Obama spoke on the issue of  health care at a Children’s Hospital in D.C. and responding to ctiticism of people not in support of reform said: “This is not about me, this is not about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking families in America. We can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to healthcare”. I found meaning in these words since it reiterates that we can no longer waste time and money when it comes to urgent humanitarian issues. And that is applicable to all the world.

I believe we live in a profound time in history. An atmosphere of reformation is in the air and the capacity to take action through innovation are in our possession. The question is what will we act on and for whose interest? The things we keep ourselves busy with now and decisions we make will influence the future of our children and our childrens’  children. The way we govern is being rethought in this time we live in. Could we influence our cultures to the extent that government do not act as authoritarian enemy abusing power but as empowering friend? Taking up the role of caring caretaker. Faithful facilitator. Upholder of real justice. Where business is only accepted when done unashamedly ethical, unmistakenly moral. 

As young leaders we have the full right to dream about the future and live the mission that will take us to the realization of our visions.

God bless