I am not free until the schools
in the townships and rural areas
offer the same standard of education
as the best private schools.

I am not free until each black child
can look into the mirror
and not long to be any race other than their own.

I am not free until grandparents are no longer forced
to raise the real victims of HIV/Aids,
their grandchildren.

I am not free until each and every father
understands that it is their duty to teach their sons,
from a young age, how to treat a woman like a lady,
and what it really means to be the head of the household.

I am not free until the rape of grandmothers stops,
and we as a society once again embrace the elderly
as leaders of our communities.

I am not free until such time as unemployment
is no longer a threat to those with or without experience,
with or without qualifications.

I am not free until such time as the medical services
of a rural town in the deep eastern Free State
are as good as the country’s best medical facilities.

If I am not free, then you are not free
for the freedom I speak of doesn’t belong
to a select few, but belongs to all of us.