If you are losing hope about South Africa's future, especially in light of what isn't happening at our municipality, please do yourself a favour and watch the YouTube video footage - http://ow.ly/nUVMp - of NMMU's three Abe Bailey Travel Bursary finalists. They're an instant pick-me-up. They're students of whom we can be very proud.
It's sad that students are generally painted with the same brush - a brush bristling with negative adjectives like lazy, rude, self-absorbed, disrespectful, lacking in patience, expectant of instant gratification, drunk, careless, lacking in responsibility, idle, conceited ...
You see, we generally only hear bad things about students just as we only hear about the teenagers who go off the rails and planes that crash. We don't hear about all the teenagers who manage to emerge from their pimply-plagued years more or less unscathed or the planes that safely transport thousands of passengers millions of kilometres around the globe year in and year out.
Sadly, it's only the sad and bad stuff that we get to hear.
How refreshing and inspiring then to come across students who obliterate every negative adjective often ascribed to them.
Meet Curwyn Mapaling, Tulani Nkuntse and Lisa Weideman - the finalists for the Abe Bailey Travel Bursary which gives the winner a three-week, all-expenses paid educational trip to the UK.
It's not that they are all academic achievers (yes, their marks are all good), it's just that recognise that they are the future and that they are doing something about it in their own small way.
Curwyn embraces NMMU's value of ubuntu as he cares for his community as a senior psychology student; Tulani exemplifies the value of diversity through his work in his residence and via various initiatives with the Student Representative Council while Lisa is intent on educating others to save and sustain our planet and its limited resources. She is a walking sermon for the university's value of respect for the natural environment.
Their commitment is outstanding and inspiring. But why take my word for it. See for yourself. Their inspiring message is available for others to enjoy on YouTube http://ow.ly/nUVMp
Do you know of others? Do you know of students who are not waiting for the future to come to them but are meeting it head-on in a positive and pro-active fashion. If so, let us know because we need to exchange the negative adjectives for positive ones whenever we can.
With your help we can.
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