The world’s voice has been the loudest in the presence of a mirror. If you held all your successes in your hands, and faced the mirror straight on, the very things you had in your hand, on your body, even the very thoughts that reside your mind would be reflected without flaw. I have realised that mirrors do lie sometimes, and maybe they present us with the greatest lies. I can stand with my B.Pharm degree in front of a mirror come graduation, but does that define what or who I am? The big question is; does it assemble a blueprint of what I am capable of becoming?

Introspection can do wonders to clean the mirror we call the mind. The road prior to D.C has had its fair share of lessons with their respective values. The one thing remains true about life, is that it manages to grant you the lesson first, and teaches you later on. The light of this statement comes after “forming, storming, performing, and norming” within the confines of my head, after talks with my fellow colleagues, and even with my family. What resonates from it all is that, my degree will not become a box that will define me; it should not become a tunnel grid that narrows me into the “rat race” years beyond graduation, or even become a vial that blinds me from my contribution to the greater scheme of things in South Africa.

Much can be learnt from just listening to people who have been through the same tides as you have. Two weeks back when we celebrated Youth day at the embassy, where along side Sizwe gave the opening speeches and remarks, I was approached by a lecturer from Howard University, and she asked me what I was studying and I told her. The contours of someone’s face can tell stories on their own, and that can be accounted for her facial response before she said anything. She paused and said to me; “young man, you like pharmacy, but the trick is that you’re born to speak for your country. Do not let your degree build walls around what you are…” I almost shocked on the thank you that occupied my mouth like Christmas pudding. This goes back to my initial statement that mirrors can be deceiving, and in my case my mirror has been telling me white lies.

In the words of SAWIP alumni Khaya Mayile, “do not think out the box, crush the box completely”. It is such words that transcend beyond the very thought of knowing what one can become. If I am to think that influencing change in South Africa will require another pharmacist, then I might as well rob my own country of the opportunity of having a visionary, a leader, a patriot in the ideals of human development in South African. My journey thus far has been an illumination of some sort, a message that beckoned to be freed, and a great deal of reflective activity induced by Nigel Bailey, British High Commissioner Dr. Nicola Brewer, and my current supervisor that needed my dire attention.

Many may never get the opportunity to find there niche, not that I have found mine, and that alone can deprive my peers the opportunity that hovers in their subconscious of the world that lies beyond their degrees. We are young, roads are yet to be discovered, some created and redefined , but not everyone will have SAWIP experiences to grant them the wake-up call that I am still getting. It is this very urge that has made me realise that after all is said and done, I need to make sure that the recipe is shared with my peers. This might not move mountains, but it will surely save some from bringing boulders from high points.

This all reminds me of the poem, The Road not Taken by Robert frost, where in the last two stanza he captures it so beautifully as he say, “I took the one less travelled by, And it made all the difference” The road head is not an easy one, but acknowledging that a B.Pharm degree will not define who I am or my train of thought. “More power than all the success slogans ever penned by human hand is the realization for every man that he has but one boss. That boss is the man - he - himself.” - Gabriel Heatter