‘’This work is not ourselves. Kill that spirit of ’self’ and do not live above your people….-Charlotte Maxeke
To answer a call that is much bigger than you resembles the principles that Mam’Maxeke so eloquently taught us. To see a community in dire need and to serve.
Almost a distant memory, but just yesterday at the dawn of Covid-19 March 2020 in South Africa.
Terrified of the unknown, mortified of premature death, we looked to the state for answers and solutions.
At the edge of lockdown, we would soon attest to the wonders of the essential workers, health, retail etc. Who would have ever wondered that the faith of a nation would be at the hands of a few?
This history in our backyards saw these patriots leaving their families, attending to a call greater than self; we experienced what it meant to sacrifice.
As unimaginable as this pandemic was, health workers stood on the frontlines to save as many as possible. We took for granted the running water, the electricity supply and the availability of sustenance. It took the efforts of various individuals to heed a call bigger than them.
To think of Mam’Maxeke’s legacy, the milestones, outside of her accolades, all her firsts. I see a woman whose legacy stemmed solely from the love of others and selflessness.
In the plague of unemployment and nepotism, we ought to take heart in serving the community with purity and honour. The existence of ill doesn’t eliminate goodness. The unified efforts of small good deeds permit magnified strides to the tomorrow we seek.
Even at the heart of amplified individualism, we ought to remain sturdy in the beliefs of ‘’Each one, teach one.’’
The doors of my success will always be the results of an embodiment of others, as accurate as it was in Wilberforce for Mam’Maxeke. It remains true today; a door opened for me is a window of opportunity for others.
To think of Mam’Maxeke, I reflect on integrity; this Martyr’s words exalt in my heart, ‘’Do the right things, even when no one is watching.’’
Lest we forget, the cost of our dated freedom rests in the blood of many. Therefore, it is no shock that our activism is tested with bribery, violence and silence.
And so, we must never surrender our generational mandate due to these tests. Our activism is due diligence to the schools with no infrastructure; it remains a voice to the battered souls of gender-based violence. It is an element of hope for a better future for those who grew up with none.
The call to uplift others should never be segmented into the elite, the outliers. It speaks to all of us to talk about light when there is none, to inform of opportunity, even when it does not benefit us, and to serve others with humility.
So even when the work is thankless, with no standing ovations, we must be courageous and continue to carry others, not for us, but our bloodline depends on it, for we know history will absolve us.