Africare News In Brief

July 18th, 2012

This past weekend, I had the absolute joy and privilege of engaging youth from across the African continent and the world in a dialogue of current issues across the globe. The discussion centered on how we, as youth, can apply Nelson Mandela’s principles and ideals as a framework to develop solutions to the many problems we face on our planet.

As one of the two representatives from the United States, I benefited tremendously from meeting passionate youth who were engaging their communities and seeking methods to improve and challenge the status quo through calculated steps. My immense gratitude goes to South African Airways, Africare, the United Nations Development Program and many more for their respective roles in contributing to my experience in South Africa—an experience that has left me ebullient with a passion to be a part of the cohort affecting change across the world.

From the very moment we landed in Johannesburg, the theme of the weekend, “Make Every Day a Mandela Day,” started to become a reality. From the lighthearted jokes of our native countries at dinner, to the dialogue within the Johannesburg Mayoral Chambers, we embarked upon the journey to give ourselves completely to the causes we believed in, challenge the existing establishments within our countries, and develop our mindsets and aspirations in life. From my short time in Johannesburg amongst some of the brightest youth across the continent, I have walked away extremely optimistic about my peers’ vigorous pursuit of their own passions. Similarly to Madiba who stressed that he “was born free” despite the fact that the political and social environment stated the contrary, the importance of us holding fast to our principles and what we believe to be our natural rights can never be underestimated.

Without a doubt, Mandela Day was an awe-inspiring time of introspection and reflection on the issues that affect us currently and the issues that Madiba has fought against for decades. The youth are certainly ambitious—this has been the case whether you look at the student involvement in the American Civil Rights Movement or current youth engagement within political and social spheres across the globe. Our discontent with the dissatisfactory performances of our leaders is but molding the type of leadership we shall demand going forward—leaders guided less by selfish ambition and more by selfless motives.

As a few commented, it may be impossible to live each day like Madiba; however, it is my earnest belief that with the support of one another, and through a pursuit of unity, we can administer and achieve the goals we view as quintessential to our human existence.

Happy Mandela Day!
Antuan Weeks

Antuan Weeks is a summer intern at Africare’s department of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. He is a junior in the economics department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Photo Courtesy of F2 Photography