Graduation speech - The beginning...

“What we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from… ” Adapted from T.S. Elliot

SAWIP board members, Deputy Vice Chancellor of UWC, SAWIP Alumni, my fellow SAWIP team members and friends and family, my very own beginning started 22 years ago on a beautiful farm in the Tsitsikamma. Little did I know back then that I would have the opportunity of standing before all of you tonight.

As a youngster I grew up in the best home a young man could ever dream of. I had the best parents, a brother which I love and a dairy farm as my backyard; everything a boy could ask for. My parents always encouraged me to be all that I can be, never telling me that I cannot achieve what I put my mind to; the sky was my limit.

Ever since I can remember I had a passion for people and our country, specifically South Africa’s diversity of cultures.

The part of my family who is here tonight, will attest to the fact that if you go back to all my school books  when I was 8, all of my colouring was done with the colours of the rainbow. Not just any colouring, I used 6 or more colours to colour atone. If you go through every single picture in my books, no matter what it was about, this is what you would find.

For some strange reason I did things like this that were quite unique.

When I look back at them and other similar events in my life, I realize that it symbolised my own beginning of the appreciation for diversity; the birth of the rainbow nation in my own life.

Although my parents raised me in a home where we judged all people as equal, it never was a reality to me until recently…

At our orientation camp prior to the D.C. trip, I was one of the few interns which indicated on the accommodation form that I wanted to share my experience with someone else. This happened without knowing I would start a complete new friendship with an exceptional man for the first time. Before I knew anything I was unexpectedly designated to spend my 5 weeks with this person that I knew very little about. In these five weeks while living, eating and literally doing everything together, I made a significant new friendship with a black man for the very first time... He is sitting in the audience tonight, Abednigo Nkosi (AJ).

AJ, our relatively young and new friendship has really meant a lot to me, it is my own reconciliation story… My dream is that through our friendship other people will come to understand UBUNTU as they come to see everyone around them, regardless of skin colour, as their equal. My friendship with AJ is just one of the significant stories of how SAWIP has had a meaningful impact on me. The program has added so many new and significant things to my life.

Doing a world class internship at the International Finance Corporation and meeting with the world’s biggest business leaders and politicians was an experience that I will search long and hard for to experience ever again. But, there is one thing that separates this program from being just the conventional.

It is the opportunity that I have had to spend six months with the 14 most awe-inspiring leaders that I have ever met. No monetary value or international trip to the United States can be valued more than our precious time we have spent together.

I have not learnt what leadership is by meeting with the best in business and politics from across the world, you taught me leadership. I have not come to realise the bright future that this nation bears by looking at the Nelson Mandela’s of our country, you showed me the future.  I have not had the courage or influence to make a difference, but you helped me to be the difference.  It is through hours of heated arguments, day after day sometimes for 5 hours at a time, and it is through our wonderful friendships that I have realised and been able to do all of this.

Tonight I want to honour all 14 of you for inspiring me to be a better person and leader. You have impacted me in a way that I cannot describe.

Our SAWIP narrative inextricably binds us together. We will forever have this life changing experience which we shared with each other and the reality is that all of us will not stay best friends, but we will certainly meet in a few years time and reflect on how we have impacted our world, each in our own unique way.

This is not the end, in fact, this may under no circumstance be the end of our journey. To make an end of SAWIP is indeed to make a new beginning. From here on onwards it is a new beginning to our stories, a new life.

The onus and responsibility now rests on us to begin with the task at hand, to take this experience and to implement change in a desperate country.

Yet, we may not stop exploring; we may not stop searching or stop challenging the status quo. We have to be on the lookout for our fellow South Africans who have the same dreams and ideals as us. We must work together and engage with them to create the space for our dreams to turn into reality.

 When this happens and only when this happens, will we be able to arrive at the end of our journey and look back on our stories as successful and still then we may not rest.

I believe in every single one of you who are sitting here tonight, you will go out and change this world. Therefore, I find it appropriate to leave you with the following from Winston Churchill “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” May this inspire you to keep on doing great things.

On behalf of the SAWIP class of 2011 I want to thank the board, management and sponsors for empowering us with the opportunity and privilege of being part of such a significant event. I want to wish you all the best of luck in continuing to develop the next generation of South African leaders in a way that will change this country and the face of the African continent. I thank you.