Daisy Howlind

Daisy Howlind writes this dispatch. It is entitled Sithembiso Nkosi. It is really an addition to Whitney’s piece on Zululand. Daisy is concentrating in African Studies (CAAS), Gender and Health and Medical Anthropology, double minor. She was in China last year on a GIEU study abroad and studied in Mexico as well. She is on the University of Michigan ballroom dance team, which is the number one team in the country. Sithembiso “Sithe” is a Master’s student at Unizul in Agriculture. He is also a true POA alumnus and joined us in our reflection meetings. As the young folks say – he is awesome.

Enjoy, Nesha

Sithembiso Nkosi

Dr. Haniff has stressed the importance that we know Africa through its people. When I think about South Africa I do not think of big cats, elephants or grass huts. South Africa is rich; rich in forgiveness, culture, and history. We have experienced first hand what it means to be humble and understanding from many remarkable people. South Africa is as much a part as the University of Michigan in shaping who and what we are becoming through this experience. One of the many people who have forever impacted my growth is Sithembiso Nkosi. Sithe is more than a South African peer at the University of Zululand, but a fellow POA student peer, educator, theologist and community organizer. The intellectual aptitude that spills from his lips never ceases to amaze me, even more so because he is only 24 years of age. At the graduation of the new POA graduates last Wednesday, Sithe, as the director of the UniZul peer educators, said something I shall not forget  -“ you should not measure a person through their successes but whether they are a person of value”. I had the pleasure to sit down with Sithe one night and converse on a variety of topics, including the detrimental impact of pregnancy and HIV/AIDS on the women students at UniZul. We also discussed American corporation’s stronghold on politics, political apathy in the United States, and how South African youth direct a lot of political change. Sithe’s astuteness has found its way into the margins of my Paulo Friere book during a class meeting. He explained that situations cannot talk but people can. In order to remove oppression through true action and word we must understand the situation before taking action- understanding the word first (From Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed: “Within the word we find two dimensions, reflection and action…There is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is to trandform the world (page 87”).  “We must all take action but sometimes we all are waiting and wondering who it will be.” Sithe’s knowledge about politics, history and current affairs is inspiring to me and I can only wish to aspire to his caliber of profundity and consciousness. I am forever grateful and humbled by the lessons I have learned from South Africans themselves.

Daisy Howlind
Pedagogy of Action 2011 Team Member