People are story beings. Stories tell us who were are, where we come from and where we are going. But so often we divorce our stories from where we are and thus rob others from an enriching human experience.

Enriching human experiences are facilitated by events (history), spaces (geographical locations); and people. When we take a look back at some of our past experiences, our imaginations automatically recalls what was happening (events), where we were (spaces); and the peo...

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1.1. Stay centered and do not polarize

Whenever conflict erupts, the first human reaction is to play the ‘blame game.’ This unfortunately results in name-calling and endless arguments that never get resolved. People find themselves tyrannised by ‘either-or’ instead of embracing the genius of the ‘And.’

Staying centred and not polarising means parties involved in a conflict are able to hold on to their views whilst giving those holding an opposing view permissi...

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I have been involved in youth and community development for 19 years. This career has seen me travel from small town to small town, city to city, village to village impacting lives of South Africa's youth through school-based programmes aimed at addressing among others HIV/AIDS, Sexuality, Self Image and Career counseling.

The organisations that I worked with may not have had all the money in the world to do the work they wanted to do in schools, however, they put their best foot foot forward ...
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So many people are caught up in the game of trying to be like some one they are not. They live their lives half asleep while trying to navigate life's challenges. Nowadays it has become easier to fake our true identities instead of being who we were created to be.

This challenge may seem like a cliche as we are used to hearing it from various sources such as preachers, self help books, and motivational speakers. The phrase that often accompany it is always 'Be an original. Not a photocopy.' My...
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The Value of Community

 

I am writing this note at a leadership camp with 12 learner from Altmont Technical High School in Soweto and 3 of their educators. This particular leadership model is based on the premise that we cannot put greatness in humanity, but our role as practitioners is to elicit it for greatness is already there as was said by John Buchan. This programme is currently championed by Columba 1400 South Africa and it is closely linked to its mother organization in Scotland Col...

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I recently glanced through Ben Zander’s “Art of possibility.” Those who are familiar with Ben Zander are aware that he is well-known as the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Ben’s way of life is that anybody can do whatever they put their minds onto. This is a very significant truth especially for us here in Africa. For a long time we have been regarded as a populace that needs aid rather than being significant role-players in pushing the human race forward not only our ...

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It was a midsummer morning in the early 1900s when a young Malawian man called Nnaene Nyando went on a journey in search for greener pastures in other parts of Africa. In his mind Africa belonged to those who lived in it so the boarders were not going to stand in the way of his adventurous discovery. He crossed the Zambezi into Zimbabwe then into Seretse Khama’s Botswana where he met a radiant Motswana woman called Maikano. The two fell in love and had children who will later inherit this r...

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I was reading the book of Genesis 45: 5 and it was like I was seeing these words for the first time. The verse read: "Now, don't be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives."

If you don't know the story, it is about how Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers because of jealousy. They were irritated by the type of dreams that Joseph used to dream. He caused them to rage with jealousy until one day they thought 'enough is enough.' And so the...
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"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did." T.E Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia

A compelling vision is one that is fuelled by the conviction that current circumstances cannot dictate our future destiny. Knowing what your vision of the future is can go a long way...

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