Stronger Together

The photo in the header of this week’s newsletter was “borrowed” from Duane Vermeulen’s Instagram page. I was going to DM him to ask if I could use it but I figured he would be too busy preparing for this weekends final against England to reply. The picture was captioned #Strongertogether and as I was scrolling through my feed trying to ignore the life coaches, influencers and models all competing for my online attention, this post caused me to stop. This photo perhaps stirred some deep longing within me of who we are and I couldn’t help but think that this is what my country should be represented by. A photo of joy, bonhomie, brotherhood and pure relief in celebration of a job well done, irrespective of race or colour. You see, the narrative that we are fed about South Africa is one very different from the photo above. I watch our political landscape and can’t help but think it resembles the plot of a Mexican Soap Opera. We have high levels of violent crime, inflation that causes constant price increases, education crises’ and lets hope the power stays on long enough to enjoy the rugby on Saturday. Our skin colour and culture is used to divide and segregate us instead of uniting us. And it is for this reason that I see so many people leaving the country. I’m told often, for the sake of my 3 kids, I should do the same. And I feel the same fear inside that many other people do. I have a brother in New Zealand, a sister in the UK and I joke often with my wife that I only married her for her Zimbabwean passport that she qualifies for. My skill set isn’t on any work shortage list that will allow me to get into another country. I can’t look and decide whether the grass is greener on the other side. I simply have to water the grass under my feet. I don’t have an option but I choose to do so. And it’s difficult when our country’s narrative is so unsettling at times but also really easy when I look at the picture above and consider our people’s potential and the possibilities of what we can become. Sometimes in life we have limited choices in a particular situation. This is the gift. Multiple options create indecision and waters down resolve. If you go all in on something and realize you have to make things work, irrespective of circumstances, sometimes beautiful things happen. We rise. We grow. We overcome. We win a rugby World Cup. Chat soon