Uniqueness is a Factor

Hadn’t we been different! The world and its offerings wouldn’t mean a dime if it wasn’t of the uniqueness embedded within each one of us. Despite my height and various other physical characteristics, deep within I remain unique with my soul and spirit, though I share a common and holy God with the rest.

I am writing this to substantiate on my views and reservations on how I stand to assert that “uniqueness is a factor” herein is referring to the fate and/or kismet of each individual living on Mother Earth. I have always thought that I was like any other person beyond being of the same species until I learned explicitly that I am unique. As much as my uniqueness is a factor, so is yours. My uniqueness allows me to feel at ease and enables me to be myself dependent on the inner man. My uniqueness allows me to write this and decide to share with others who are also unique in their own form.

In most times we fail to learn and realize the factor within our uniqueness because we carelessly allow other people to exploit and violate our uniqueness to an extent that we are condemned to witness our own factor materialize. We habitually become spectators on the reality show of the unique factor in those around us due to various reasons one of them being the lack of faith and belief in oneself. Furthermore we are just not so curious and inquisitive to the inner man in a quest to unravel the factor that comes with our uniqueness because we perhaps reckon that maybe we are just like the rest of everyone who seem to have a scourge destiny.

I invite anyone smart or not, wise or otherwise to take a pause and interrogate the unique factor that is within them. What have you discovered? Your X-factor that is mostly ignored by your shifted focus towards other foreign effects, isn’t it? What comes next now that you have discovered the X-factor in you? My recommendation is that the next thing for you to do is to stop thinking that you are not unique enough to acquire the greatest of the world because now you have discovered the X-factor in you which clearly suggests that your uniqueness is a factor and you need to embrace it as positively as possible. Remember! Uniqueness becomes a factor only if you factorize it by been initiative and innovative enough to facilitate and drive positively rewarding change in your life and those within your clique. You will never benefit fully from your maximum potential if you don’t maintain sane cognizance of yourself.

I conclude by vehemently emphasizing that our uniqueness is indeed a real factor that we should embrace and build onto in order for us to live our lives with ease and with futuristic prospects of life. I am a millennial and liberal youth who believes that independence is freeing others from the slavery of your emptiness and need. Moreover, as much as life moves swiftly like a pendulum, we need to maintain authority and control over our attitude towards achieving our dreams and aspirations by ensuring that the X-factor within our unique character is well nurtured to yield positive ensues for our hustle. Always maintain that uniqueness is a factor and no one can ever discover that in you, so it is entirely up to you to cultivate the arable terrain from your inner man until you uphold independence and enforce sane cognizance then all shall manifest. The wise ones tell that “what you think and thank about, you become about”.

Sane Cognizance

Sane cognizance: against all odds

I have learned that as we continue to live it is imperative for us to continue to adapt to the ever changing lifestyle that comes with many innovations as the way-forward to life. Furthermore I also gathered that it is sometimes difficult to fit in various classes of society if you don’t practice what is proportional to their status quo.

I am writing this piece to inspire everyone who struggle to fit into various cliques because they don’t pose the unique skill, dexterity and resources similar to those around them. This situation often kills the motivation and courage of an individual especially if you are within the marginalized group, however, it lights up one’s day if you form part of the opulent elites. I have been the victim of both circumstances and managed to survive others whereas other situations were obviously beyond my control. I have titled this piece “sane cognizance” herein “sane” refers to the state of been reasonable marked by sound judgement and “cognizance” refers to an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation and having knowledge of what one can know and understand. 

       

I have always learned to compose myself towards adapting to various situations that I have ever found myself into by maintaining my level of sane cognizance against all odds. Throughout my life, I have associated in continuum with most, innovative, powerful, influential, educated, poor, ordinary, rich, informed, prospective, pessimistic and optimistic people to date. All these classes, requires one to have a specific type sane cognizance in order to fit into their clique, which can be rather discouraging in most times especially when you feel forlorn towards your future prospects. In various encounters I have survived sessions by exercising a very insightful skill of active listening to get me through the sitting simply because I constantly felt destitute to contribute to the subject matter. It is in these difficult times when many wishes they had a different life to live instead of the one they have because the situations they face deem them barren to contribute.   

Nonetheless, life goes on and we need to keep track in order to keep up with the modus operandi. Sometimes one is required to speak a different lingo, dress in certain clothes, have a certain status, etc in order to fit in. But what if I am not like them? Does my uniqueness declare me the odd one out? What if I am comfortable with who and the way I am? I know your heads are raving with answers of the above questions and the impatience of reading up the piece and share your comment is unbearable. The fact that I don’t have a car does not mean that I cannot travel. I think to really prosper; we need to know how to blend our character and intelligence in every situation we face. The basic element towards getting ahead is mustering the tradition of sane cognizance. We don’t have to beat ourselves too hard because we don’t share specific privileges’ like those we admire every day, because God have a special plan for our success and prosperity, what is required of us is to believe while making smart efforts towards our destiny just like the saying goes “it’s not where you come from but where you are going”. Extensively, our attitudes towards various situations are crucial because no negative attitude will bring about positive ensues so we need to always be optimistic in our endeavors even if we have to use our last pack of courage and hope.

It does not help to always feel downtrodden convincing ourselves to be illiterate because we don’t have our desired educational qualifications while an innovative thing to do is collect and read books about your desired field. Of course, you won’t be a qualified professional in the field but you will consume enough content that will enable you to contribute in conversations about the subject. Even if you do have that qualification, but you can’t find a job, sane cognizance can help you realize potential opportunities if you exercise it wisely. The reason I am deliberating on this subject is because I came across different people who seem stuck, saying they are out of options, but when I interrogate deeper into their situation, I gather that they have undermined the power of sane cognizance in their situations and are in denial of certain realities. Some people just like to operate in the same old routine not because it never bores them, but simply because they fear to exhaust the potential within their sane cognizance which is likely to bring light in their big dark room. We often complain about not been informed but we never make efforts to read even a newspaper or public notice posters. We like to have skills but we never like to learn let alone volunteer to get experience.

I am not writing this piece as someone who has already made it in life. I have my desires, aspirations and dreams just like the rest of everyone. However, I am writing as a young person who continues to muster sane cognizance throughout my life. I believe that you can never enter a building if you fail to identify the entrance but with the right attitude and patience, somehow you will figure out the entrance. Just like in life, there are no shortcuts or a straight line to success however your attitude will surely determine how you get to accomplish your desires. I believe that the notion of how people perceive you should always be positive because your sane cognizance depends entirely on it in order to bolster your self – esteem.

I conclude by saying that you are human too and should never be afraid to associate with others simply because of your background status, colour, gender, etc. It is in our nature that we continue to learn and grow daily and if you ever find yourself in those discouraging situations, all you need to do is exercise your active listening skills and ask if you don’t understand because that will enhance your knowledge and wisdom about different types of people within various classes of society. No man is an island even the rich needs the poor like the bolt needs the nut. If you muster sane cognizance you are likely to prosper against all odds. Failure becomes a mirage when you are always filled with courage and hope. Let me share with you a poem by James T. Moore:

One and Only You

Every single blade of grass,

And every flake of snow—

Is just a wee bit different...

There’s no two alike, you know.

From something small, like grains of sand,

To each gigantic star

All were made with THIS in mind:

To be just what they are!

How foolish then, to imitate—

How useless to pretend!

Since each of us comes from a MIND

Whose ideas never end.

There’ll only be just ONE of ME

To show what I can do—

And you should likewise feel very proud,

There’s only ONE of YOU.

That is where it all starts

With you, a wonderful

Unlimited human being.

During Opinion Pieces

Written by Teleki Moeti and Phetole Kgatla

@ Alpha Conference Centre during Activate! trainings in a session on Opinion Pieces

What it will take to inspire my generation to engage with using technology as it simplifies modern life.

The purpose of this opinion piece is to show the importance of our generation’s engagement with technology. It also seeks to bring awareness and options that could be beneficial to the lives of our generation. We discuss the key concepts of accessibility and education. Social network will be discussed towards the conclusion of our piece.

Accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity. It has become very easy to get access to relevant information at any time anywhere. This has been possible because of modern technologies like broadband internet.  Lots of data is being published and indexed online, sites like Wikipedia and YouTube, to mention but two, have great original content which can be used in research or entertainment . In this regard it is succinct that technology does simplify modern life easing access to information which is a vital element of keeping up with this busy world of information exchange.  

Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, research, or simply through auto communication. Learning is a process and it is part of our daily lives. Modern technology has made it simple for students to learn from anywhere through online education and mobile education.  Also students now use modern technology in classrooms to learn better.  This becomes evident when technological devices and machinery are used to conduct comprehensive information and education sessions. If technology provides convenience it is sure ought to simplify modern life for our generation.

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a complex set of the coupled ties between these actors. Modern technology has made it simple to discover our old friends and also discover new people to network with. This is a benefit to both individuals and businesses. Many businesses have embraced the social networking technology to interact with their customers.  Users of social networks can share information with friends, live chat with them and interact in all sorts of way. Social network gives us courtesy to communicate with different people in different places which save time and travel costs. If technology was out of our reach modern life and communication would not have been this simplified for our generation.

Currently young people are not incentivized or encouraged to use technology more often in their everyday duties, the alternative is that young people are encouraged from the lower level of education to employ technology in their daily lives.

In conclusion we would like to acknowledge our first key concept of accessibility as one of the most fundamental advantages of technology for human development in modern life. Digital education and social network help us to access educational information and help people to stay in contact. Technology does simplify modern life for our generation.

What will it take for you to inspire your generation?

.

A! Innovation Showcase

 2014 Innovation Showcase Feedback

By Lionel Kgatla for Ubuntuvation Youth Organisation

Ubuntu-Botho and Innovation

Name of Event/Activity        : 2014 Activate! Change Drivers Innovation Showcase

Venue                                                : Alpha Conference Centre, Magaliesburg

Date                                        : 17^th to 18^th January 2014 – Travel dates excluded

Ubuntuvation Contingent  : Sydney Mathebula, Tholakele Molelekwa, Thulisile Buzani, Nkululeko Ntuthu, Maphuthi Choung, Lionel Kgatla & Bongani Hlatshwayo

Purpose                                 : The GreeInland Project Pitching

“Everything already exists in our infinite Universe. All we need to do is to allow ourselves experience the beauty and riches of life, to let these Divine gifts in our existence, to open ourselves to the unlimited , unconditional love and all the blessings that it brings with it, to open the door and let the triumph and success into our habitat”. – Zlatoslava Petrak

Greetings honourable Ubuntuvators,

Let me first of all start by briefly explaining what the Innovation Showcase is. The Innovation Showcase is a major highlight on the Activate! Calendar because it is an opportunity for all activators to gather in one space to meet each other and share their experiences and passions. Activators’ ideas, initiatives and projects will be on show as part of the Showcase Expo and will add to the rich fibre of the event. Imagine two days of innovation, exploration, interactive workshops, inspirational guest speakers, sharing ideas around transformational change.

The whole programme for the Showcase is wrapped around innovation and inspiration to stimulate and expand thinking horizons as expressed through the theme: “Inspiring Possibilities”. Below I will provide the feedback guided by some of the titles outlined in the event programme.  

Day One

1. Inspiring possibilities with David Harrison, Siyabulela Xuza and Gcina Mhlophe

-       This session was full of inspiration as the above-mentioned speakers shared their life experiences, their achievements and success stories. David Harrison shared his miracle when he and four other friends survived a slide of large masses of snow and ice down a mountain in 1988 after cold four days with no water and food. That indeed is inspiring as it shows resilience. The Harvard University graduate and a rocket man Siya Xuza came in and shared the mystery behind his love for science. As he went on to enjoin us his experiences been in the MIT labs I concluded that Xuza was on point when he said: “Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon” no wonder he has a minor planet named after him. Indeed that is very inspiring from a young man who hails from Eastern Cape, eMtata to have done such amazing things extending to meeting Nelson Mandela and Barrack Obama family just to mention but two. uMama Gcina Mhlophe inspired us by her story telling attributes, it had me reminiscing my time in grade 8 learning about her during Arts & Culture classes, she taught us how to nurture an opportunity until it yields your desired results. What a brave woman she is...she said the youth have grandmother Google to tell us stories of the past.

2. !magine a Country...Engaging with South Africa’s top public innovators.

-       This one was full of innovation and inspiration. We had to interact with an abundance of top innovators who are doing great things to innovate and inspire the world. The few are LIveSA magazine, querio – a survey and mindset learn mobile application, bread bin interactive – a company that distribute basic education content and materials online for schools and Community Development Resource Association – CDRA is an NGO offering a variety of services to not-for-profit initiatives around the world, particularly those concerned with development.

3. !magine Youth... sharing ideas and imagining opportunities.

-       In this session we were grouped according to provinces and sharing ideas with each other as to what can we do to strengthen the network and continue to drive change provincially. The session culminated in developing a database of our details with the aim to establish a collective provincial team with regional representations per districts that will serve to bolster the network and centralize opportunities.

  

4. Refuelling at the Activate! Cafe...resourcing, connecting and engaging.

-       We were introduced to a candid of all possibilities through innovation as we interacted with about 30 or more top innovators who descends from both business and civil societies. Here we were at liberty to resource by collecting different tools and materials from various stalls ranging from books, manuals, articles, brochures and pamphlets. Furthermore we got to connect and engage with other fellow young innovators about partnerships and further capacity building.

5. iShift Launch...James Thomas memorial with special guest Colleen Thomas 

-       The widow of one of the late founding fathers of Activate! James Thomas who was short recently in Nairobi Colleen Thomas introduced an online platform for activators to utilise. The online resource is called iShift Mindsets. iShift is an online entrepreneurial mindset development platform established in 2010 by Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. It is based on attitudes distilled from the Foundation’s five pillars:

·         Achievement Excellence

·         Personal initiative

·         Spirit of Significance

·         Courageous Commitment

·         Intellectual Imagination

-       iShift allows you to explore and unlock your inner entrepreneurial leadership ability through this self-directed learning system. The immense value of critical self-analysis and the spaces in which we operate are augmented by iShift through its reflective platforms and tools that can unlock your inner potential through the multitude of insights that it provides. This is especially useful, as it allows individuals to focus on their specific personality traits, providing a far more appropriate system of learning, where these skills and underlying self-knowledge can be used to hone Activators’ abilities to be successful public innovators. 

Day Two

1. Introduction to elevator pitches...here we were been introduced to the proceedings to follow in the showcase expo. We were given 2014 Innovation Showcase Catalogue which contained the projects to be pitched at the Showcase. One out of many other interesting objectives of the booklet is it serves as a point of connection: it could connect people with similar interests or ideas and it could connect existing projects with potential projects.
2. Elevator pitch expo...this is the moment where The GreeInland was sold at a greater scale and we had different people including activators and facilitators with five stickers each. The stickers were for pasting on the project that you like on the stalls. Ten projects that had the most stickers won R 2500 cash prize and R 7 500 Voucher towards the development of the project. I would like to extend my appreciation of the support that fellow Ubuntuvators contributed during the expo.
3. Activate! Years two and three - Chris Meintjes...as much as year one is the year of forging a network of change drivers. Year two is a phase of strengthening the Activate! Network of change drives. This is a phase where activators connect to each other, enrich the network and each other with their dynamism and diversity and increase their effectiveness individually and collectively. Furthermore, year three is the phase of activating leadership for public innovation. Activate! Is a credible force and role player in the public domain, raising expectations of what is possible for young people to achieve, for business to cooperate and for government to deliver?

-       Graduates of year one are supported to establish;

Connections Hives: Nationally networked focus specific action group

Local Stations: Purpose driven local networks

The Switch: Project development Forums; turning ideas into reality

-       And contribute to:

Activate! Engage: Fostering discussion, and activate partnerships within and beyond the network into public domain.

Including Activate! Exchanges (dialogue), Our Voice (blog), Post (e-newsletter) and the Junction (an online resource bank).

AQ [IQ + EQ = AQ]

Activating enquiry and building mental muscle through seminars, workshops and formal NQF studies and online learning platforms

Starting at NQF level 5 Certificate in Community development

4. Activate! Presents...here Activate! Awarded people who helped with the recruitment drive for 2014 activators. 5 activators received R 500 worth of airtime each and other two activators managed to receive a Samsung mini Tab and Samsung Tab 2 gadgets. Furthermore the session got more seriously exciting when the announcement of ten most voted projects out of 87 that were presented during the elevator pitch expo arrived. Our project the GreeInland was announced second out of the ten and awarded R 2500 cash prize and R 7500 voucher towards the advancement of the project. The money can be redeemed by emailing the Activate offices. Ladies and gentlemen let me inform you that during this moment I managed to shed a tear having to reminisce about the toiling that was involved in making sure that both UYO and The GreeInland Project are visible and convincing to the masses. Those tears indeed did not reflect pain but victorious joy. My notion towards the money is we must not rush to redeem it since we don’t even have a bank account. I suggest that we act smart and open a bank account whilst equally strengthening our executive structure because it is a fact that when money is involved we need to have a robust and legit structure that will serve and account on both narrative organisational and financial reports.

4. Celebrations...This was the moment where we celebrated been activators. We were awarded attendance certificates for the 2014 Innovation Showcase. Moreover, we received six different coloured bracelets that serve as a reminder of what we experienced in our first year. These spheres/pillars represent the core focus areas of the programme.

·         Purple – Identity.

·         Blue – Innovation.

·         Green – Leadership.

·         Yellow – Articulation.

·         Orange – Socio-political navigation. 

·         Red – Activate change.  

Of the sixth sense

1.    Conversations I had at the showcase...

...with Ms Mpho Maphologela – she runs an events company EventsGirl. In our conversation emerged the launch of UYO and as much as she agreed to help us organize the launch she also warned when picking a date and location of the event. Nonetheless Ms Maphologela promised to email me the necessary information and templates regarding the launch moreover she was more than willing to conduct research for us and come up with a suitable date and venue of the launch. She said the documents should reach us by the end of this week. The templates shall be used by us in order to come up with the necessary information she needs.

...with Ms Kanyisa Booi – Administrator-in-chief of Young Generational Thinkers (YGT), an organization based in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Ms Booi and I spoke volumes about introducing Expanded Public Works Programme – Non-State Sector programme for the unemployed youth in our areas and provinces. The programme funds the creation of work opportunities only the civil society arena so we are suitable to participate. Without any further delays Ms Booi has emailed us the necessary application documents this morning. The documents need to be filled and returned by 27^th January 2014. What needs to be done is to respond accordingly to their invitation to participate in this opportunity to change lives of youth.  

...with Mokgadi Phokobye – Ms Phokobye is a UJ student who is passionate about environment. She hails from Limpopo and has always wanted to start an environmental initiative. Her vision is still an idea under construction so we exchanged contacts details and agreed we will communicate further on how she can partner with us as far as environment is concerned.

...with Ms Flow – she works for a Corporate Social Investments company based in Gauteng. Ms Flow originally hails from Limpopo and she is willing to assist us get proper funding to realize our idea. I asked Ms Choung to take her contact details as she requested that I email her our documents so that she is abale to look for relevant programmes that suits us and UYO. Flow is her nickname; I assume Maphuthi has recorded her full names when taking her details.

NB: To all who attended the Showcase please share your conversations with us.

2.    Tools and materials I collected at the showcase...as I mentioned earlier that we collected different types of material and tools ranging from books, manuals, articles, pamphlets and brochures that will build us become better public innovators. Below is the list of what I have managed to collect:

-       How to set up past pupils’ association

-       100 Thoughts on advancement

-       Energising civil society by inspiring a passion for philanthropy

-       Pocket guide: Leadership for Advancement

-       Funding basics

-       Building relationships with potential donors

-       Striking the rights chord

-       Organization in development: Points of view

-       In conversation

-       iShift Mindsets

-       2014 Innovation Showcase Catalogue

-       The Corporate Social Investment Handbook

-       The phases of individual human development

-       The phases of organisation development

-       The NGO as a unique organisational type

NB: Everyone is welcome to share with us what they have collected.

3.    Potential recruits...Joel Mokone and Butji Mclean Mpogeng have informed me about their availability so serve in UYO so I suggest that we look into it and approach them into becoming part of our progressive team.

Youth in rural areas

It is quite tenable that young women and men in rural areas face particular constraints with regard to both accessibility and availability of services and facilities, and this result in fewer opportunities and less information and employment than in urban areas. This is indeed a pressing issue that needs to be dealt with through a multifaceted approach. In this writing I discuss the two concepts of volunteerism and community leaders as in my notion I think they are some of the major anti-progressive concepts if not facilitated well towards the development of youth in rural areas.

Volunteerism can be defined as when someone offers to do a job willingly without expecting to get paid for it. It is well reflected in the National Youth Policy of 2009-2014 that in some cases, these youth, particularly if they are unskilled, end up being destitute and those who are educated and skilled leave their areas/ communities under-resourced in search of lucrative offers. I would like to believe that volunteerism is one of the best ways to acquire knowledge and skills that may somehow provide better opportunities in the mainstream economy because it imparts one with work experience. Although some voluntary work does not offer financial incentives, which can be difficult to pursue, what remains important is the acquisition of skills and workplace experience. With that been said, the youth in rural areas be it educated or uneducated, still fail to organize themselves by formulating a cohort of change makers that aims to ameliorate the living standard of their disadvantaged communities mostly because they are not paid for what they do or simply because of their pessimistic mindset that triggers loosing of hope and results to barren future prospects. A strong opinion that I am inculcating is that the youth in rural areas should organize themselves to form voluntary projects that will help to uplift their skills base and may generate income to provide incentives to those who participate, by lobbying  funds and other resources, other than sitting down waiting for government to rescue them from their misery of emptiness and need because truthfully we all know that government can only do better by providing basic services which cannot fully suffice for the  betterment of the  living standard of youth in rural areas.

A community leader in its general sense refers to someone responsible to facilitate development in the community prior to the mandate given by the community over a consensus firmness of purpose and should have the following qualities but not limited to leadership and organization skills, ability to communicate, educate and train, action-orientation, understanding of maneuver and flexibility and ability to set aside personal judgment.   I must emphasize that some reasons why less information is disseminated within rural areas is because of the incapacity that is evinced by leaders. Community leaders are incompetent to take pride in distribution of information amongst the youth in rural areas some is due to failure to develop various distribution channels were as many people can be reached and others is just unnecessary greed. Leaders should be held accountable by local government for not doing their duties by demanding reports on all tasks allotted to them. In this way leaders will then see the importance of sharing information with others as way of collectively cultivating equal opportunity for everyone who stand to benefit other than canalizing them to a small elite group because this exacerbates impoverishment and underdevelopment.

In conclusion I acknowledge my first key concept of volunteerism as one of the benevolent ways to intensify skills development and enhance capacity building for youth in under-resourced if not underdeveloped rural areas. Responsibilities and accountability depicted by community leaders in a way of stake holder engagement and liaison in lobbying resources will serve as a springboard that bolsters the self-esteem of the youth in rural areas which will result to youth who adjoin to a shared responsibility in making informed decisions and this will encourage young people both educated and uneducated to take pride in their communities by refraining from going out to urban areas seeking for opportunities that can be cultivated in their respective rural communities.