The Silent Prayer

In light of the various xenophobic attacks that have been happening around our country this past month, I was asked to write a piece and recite it at a silent protest we had at the University of Western Cape.
I don't normally share such but I found it fitting as this was a cause dear to my heart. It goes as follows:

Dear African Brothers & Sisters

Firstly lemme apologies for the...how do I put it,
Barbaric and inhuman way our fellow brothers and sisters have been treating you
YES brothers and sisters
Because we are FIRST AFRICANS before we are even South Africans.

See this hatred isn't directed at you,
So sorry for being the casualities in this war between ourselves

We have been taught to hate our skin cause
that very skin,that comes in different shades
will never amount to anything.
So when we see you break those stereotypes
in a country that is deemed "not your own"
We become jealous,
saying "THAT SHOULD BE ME"

So sorry for being causalities in this war between ourselves

As we stand here today
And realize that this is not a war between me and you
Let us remember that
we BLEED the SAME BLOOD,
WALK ON the SAME SOIL
simply cause we are AFRICANS before SOUTH AFRICANS
And we say NO TO XENOPHOBIA

Wish upon the age of 20s

"I'm 20something and I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE" , these are the words uttered by almost every 20 something year old at some point in their life,myself included. I do not know about you but I've always been in this motion of having to know exactly what I am doing with my life, from knowing which high school I wanted to apply to, to which subjects I was going to take because these subjects determined which course I would be doing and which university I would be going to. Mind you, I had to make these decisions in grade 7 and my older cousins knowing exactly what they wanted to do when they finished school didn't make it any easier. I basically put pressure on myself and BAM! 20 years old,face down, hands on head wondering "Is this really what it's come to?". Don't  get me wrong, I love where my choice have taken me (I think), I just wish I didn't have my foot on accelerator cause maybe then I wouldn't be stuck on the past or the future but simply enjoy the present.

We being society have somehow adopted this mentality that we HAVE to know exactly what we want which is not a bad thing, I mean I don't think we want to be slumming in our parents' back room at the age of 40 but COME ON, I'm ONLY 20! I've only been on this Earth for 2 decades, the very 2 decades that have had me discovering that the world isn't as colourful as the pictures I painted, learning about the changes in my body and then having to fight those very changes that somehow made me different to the norms of society so sue me for not having it all figured 

out. 

I mean aren't your 20s suppose to be the BEST years of your life, the years where the world is LITERALLY your oyster. When I think of 20s, I think of the endless roadtrips I am yet to take, the random binge trips to McDs in PJs when school books have us running for the nearest exit. More than that, I think of the endless discoveries I'm yet to make not only about the people around me but rather about myself. From the random boys that we date cause we trying new things to even the strangers that we going to meet and possibly have them stand next to us as our maid of honor when we say "I do". Our 20s are literally OUR SELFISH era, where take back the years when we thought about others opinions and just simply say " MY LIFE,MY RULES"

So you don't have it all figured out yet, SO WHAT. . . . . . I'm not saying drop out and forget about the future but I'm also not saying be stuck in a routine that you forget that you are young. Like Kyoko Escamilia says "Your 20s are your 'selfish' years. It's a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time and all aspects of you. Tinker with sh*t, travel,explore,love alot,love a little and never touch the ground" Now take your 20s and simply CARPE DIEM!