Relentless in the face of impossibility

I wrote this blog on the plane to Cape Town where we, VWV, were presenting to the LOC Board and also attending the 2010 World Cup final draw that took place on 4 December 2009. I must say, like many other South Africans, I grossly undermined the significance of this occasion. Not only was this one of those events where the world finds out what we're capable of, but also where the teams were drawn to find out who would be playing whom.

The draw also established where the different international teams would be residing around our beautiful country.

I'm sure many players were holding thumbs not to be located in Bloemfontein for the first two weeks of the tournament. No offence, Bloem, but I'm pretty sure that most players would prefer to be located in Cape Town, Durban and Joburg - you know, places they'd actually heard of.

I guess that's the magic of what we are about to go through in eMzanzi - the world is about to be introduced to us all, no matter which corner of the country you are from. There will be an estimated half a million tourists in the country, and I'm certain they will make their way to every single nook and cranny we have.

I digress, this essay isn't about the 2010 FIFA World Cup per say; I want to tell you about an experience I had post our production of the Confederations Cup opening and closing ceremonies. Approximately 800 kids from eight Gauteng schools volunteered their time to perform at the ceremonies, and to thank them for being such an important part of our history, we went on a ‘thank you' road-trip visiting the pupils at each of their schools.

Let me tell you this, if you are not worried about the state of our education system, you should be.

Our country is at serious risk of under investing in the future of its young citizens. By the way, it isn't that the Government is under spending - on the contrary, we spend more as a percentage of our GDP on education than China, Brazil, India and Russia (BRIC) countries. But our spending is squandered by an inefficient system that means our children receive less ‘bang for their buck'.

I was horrified at the state of the schools we visited in the townships. If you think that the kids coming out of those schools are going to be the foundation of our successful future - you're wrong.

Don't take my word for it; I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and pay a visit to the nearest township school you can find. I'm not an education specialist but it's obvious that we are in trouble. Our government is incapable fixing the problem without our help. And that's my point - we have to get involved, not just for the sake of the kids but for the sake of all our future sustainability.

The future CEOs, entrepreneurs, doctors, innovators and creative directors will never know that they have the capacity to achieve their destiny until we put our hands up and pitch in.

Another amazing thing I picked up was this: despite all the doom and gloom these children face every day, they didn't hesitate to put on their brightest smile for the millions of people around SA and the world during the Confed Cup. Every school we visited had an undeniable energy to progress, learn, get involved and make our country better. And that is so South African - despite the darkness that surrounds us we have persevered, we have been relentless in the face of impossibility.

So there you have it, we have it within our national psyche to change things.

Don't say nobody ever told you...