Jasmine Ishmael

Ann O’Nell is a return POA and now a student in the Master’s Degree  in the school of Public Health’s Program . She writes about Sithembiso Nkosi who also has written his own dispatch about the POA and his four years of work with POA at the University of Zululand. I nicknamed hin Malcolm X when I first met him four years ago. I consider him an alumni of the POA program.He is completing his honors in community development at the University of Zululand. This dispatch represents a cardinal  principle in POA which is the power of conscientization. Through this we inculcate the agency of all and undermine hegemony whether its source is language or nation. Jasmine Ishmael is a first time POA-er and is writing the post-script for our time at the University of Zululand on Mama Gugu.

Enjoy, Nesha Z. Haniff

Mama Gugu: “Love, so Many Things I Gotta Tell You, But I’m Afraid, I Don’t Know How”

“love
so many things i gotta tell you\but im afraid i dont know how
cuz theres a possibility you might look at me differently
love
ever since the first moment i spoke your name
from then on i knew
that by you
being in my life things were destined to change
cuz love
so many people use your name in vain
love
those who have who have faith in you sometimes go astray
love
thru all the ups and downs and joys and hurts
love
for better or worst i still will choose you first”

These lines from the song “Love” by MusicSoulChild play in my mind when I think about Mama Gugu. I first met Mama Gugu at the POA Symposium in 2010, although brief, my interaction with Mama Gugu left a lasting impression, so much so I found myself being excited to see her upon our arrival at the University of Zululand. It was as if her energy was transferrable, this radiant, generous, unique energy. She carries a light within her, she is fire, and is more than happy to pass this on.

“Love, so many people use your name in vain.”

To know Mama Gugu is to know love, to know the love that people take for granted or simply don’t recognize. Mama Gugu greeted all fifteen of us with tight hugs reminiscent of those cozy hugs you get when you see your grandmother, then immediately proceeded to make sure we were fed with enthusiasm and a smile. Lunch is the smallest example of what Mama Gugu does and has done for POA, and but a fragment of how she exudes love even with those she doesn’t know.

“I knew that by you being in my life things were destined to change.”

She embodies South African hospitality and L.U.C.K ; love, understanding, caring, and kindness, the very lessons we teach. This paired with her flare makes for an amazing woman, a being who naturally leads by example.

“Hoping for the better chance to get to know you.”

A jack of many trades we had learned that Mama Gugu also wears many hats at the University of Zululand, which shows what a busy woman she is and how lucky we are to have had her. I am forever grateful.

POA is structured to place you outside of your comfort zone, to challenge yourself as you face new things, people and cultures day by day. It goes past teaching an HIV education method, a module, and puts you into a different space an unfamiliar space. The Pedagogy of Action encourages and pushes you to embrace new and temporary environments and does not allow for the denial of temporality. If it did it would be so easy to regard what we do as regurgitation of information and we’d miss the fellowship and the experiences with those we meet, we could not possibly appreciate them for who they are and what they give and teach us. When you meet Mama Gugu you are reminded of this.

Jasmine Ishmael
Pedagogy of Action Team Member 2012