“I believe we must come to the conversation about the meaning of freedom with an open mind.” –Nomboniso Gasa
Nomboniso Gasa wants to have transparency about building our communities based on forward thinking, current-day equality. And the challenge is that often times age-old African philosophies romanticize times of the past. She mentions this is the case with Masibuyel’embo. This saying means “let us go back to the ways of our people.” By going back to this local wisdom, communities can have a good basis, but must also balance it with modernity — the quest for freedom. This freedom is manifested in a voice, open community, transparency, equality.
Hopefully leaders such as Nomboniso will be able to find a balance between bringing the best of age-old traditions and modern concepts of equality, so that people can truly thrive as individuals. My sincere hope is we retain our cultural heritage, and adopt a future world of equal rights for all.