Meet Akhona. A young professional who studied Health Promotion at Walter Sisulu University, a former Peer Helper and now an intern at Stats South Africa, Akona took time to describe to me the mental state of the uneducated and disempowered.
"The mind is the most powerful thing. However, the steps to making that realization is not exposed. Most often, it is the bad that is at the front door and not the good. When people are brought up thinking this way, it is difficult to change them. All they have known is that.
Education is lost at an early stage. Children are required to walk two hours to school with their school uniform in their bags. They leave around 5:30am and most do not have anything to eat. The children then change into their school uniform. Due to the sweat from the heat, the clothes they came with are hung to dry after being washed. At the end of the school day, they have to change back into these same clothes, even if they are not dry. The children then continue with their two hour journey back home. Feeling hungry and tired from their journey, they do not have time to do homework, they have to help out with home. The children have no time for extra curricular activities. The boys drop out and find their way to drugs.
For those who make it, high school is another 3 years. Given the process described, how many do you think actually go through with school? And for those who do, I bow to them.
Now the women who do not finish school are left to bear children. The fathers are probably their boyfriends, some their husbands, usually aged in their 50s. These old men give money to these women. But for a person who has survived less than a dollar a day, the ability to afford curls for your hair is an opportunity to a luxury never experienced.
If the mind is not exposed to empowerment, it will forever be subjected to oppression".
Akhona was raised by her mother alone. She put herself through school, often skipping meals because she couldn't afford it. Despite these inhibitions, Akona persevered. She is an educated, intelligent woman dedicated to improving herself and the lives of whom she is involved with. Her passion and understanding of the mental struggle Black Africans endure is a testament to which Africa and its leaders must embrace and invest in.
Whether it is South Africa, Canada or any part of the world - if people are not given support or encouraged, they are left living without a purpose. And life without purpose is meaningless. They are then subjected to others opinions who then dictate how one should live. These individuals are left without developing their own self, their own dreams.
My experience at Humber working with youths in the mentoring program showed me how much can be achieved by encouraging our youths. When we show we care, it gives perspective to a person's life. It is amazing what one can achieve once empowered. Tools are then given and sharpened to escape the cycle of oppression.