Closing down the Season in Style

2016, has been a year of trials and triumph for me and my team. My team and i have battled so many challenges this year that we have even termed it "Year of Fall"
We have fallen and risen, fallen and risen so many times that each and everyone of us have lost count. B but one thing that kept us going was the spirit of togetherness and the fact that we always had each other's back, no matter what.

So coming to our closing in style of the season. The Head team Leader of Great Talk suggested that, we do what we call a retreat and surrender. This we will bow down on the eve of the 31st December 2016 and kiss the ground goodbye. So each of us will hold a chain prayer prior to the dawn of 2016, each will pray for at least 30 minutes and then buzz the other to take over and so it will go until the break of 31 st where we will all bow down wherever we are and kiss the ground of 2016 away. This we do to usher a new season, where we expect to break even, grow our series of Great Talk into a series of not just Articles on the Blog, but we aim to position this as a series of small to large intimate dialogues in TV  Q&As Show. But Great Talk will not be in studio like, instead we will take it to every community hall, Schools and Auditoriums. The Great Talk Team will assemble a team of Captains of Industry, Community Builders, Politicians, Youth Leaders and Leaders who's influence benefit society to an intimate Great Talk Q&As.


For this season, what we did as Great Talk was to launch the Series here on Blogspot.co.za to arose appetite and generate conversation. Now our beloved readers, I humbly request that you join me and my team on this exciting journey to discover and expose men and women who are doing their best to change lives. Stay with us Readers, i need you more than ever. I want to move and grow with you.

Great Talk is going big, so many changes will occur and i want you to be big part of this move.

2016 wasn't a great year for us at Great Talk and we hope the almighty bless and contain all of us, as we gear ourselves for the next season. Its going to be awesome, its going to be wonderful, dreams are going to come true and excitement will be ours again.


GOODBYE 2016:
HERE'S TO A NEW YEAR WILL ALL POSSIBILITIES!!!!!

Defeating HIV/AIDS

South Africa has the biggest and most high profile HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. The virus is more prevalent in this country than anywhere in the world. And these statistics keep rising. It is estimated that the were more than 7Million adults and children die every year from it. The most vulnerable to catch or get infected are mostly young people (Youth), female pregnant and it is also noted that this trend keeps growing year in and year out. We are the only country in the world with the highest antiretroviral roll out, according to statistics obtained from the National Department of Health and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). This statistics has not shown any sign of decline ever since it was collected.

Government said, it spend close to R23Billion a year on HIV/AIDS alone. A large chunk of this capital goes to patient Antiretroviral treatment, while the remainder is dedicated to research and finding a better method for effective treatment and possibly a cure. As much as government is showing care and concern about all this, it is also clear that people, particularly young people are not showing any sign of protecting and concerned about their health.

Most youth who are promiscuous when it comes to their sexual health tend to blame others for their woes. But statistics has shown that is not the case. The prevalent of HIV/AIDS among young people high and caused by a number of factors. These include poverty, inequality and social instability, high levels of sexual transmitted infections, sexual violence, uneven access to quality medical care, etc. That’s according to Aids Foundation South Africa.

Now if we look very closely among ourselves, be it in township or rural (Village of Riba Cross, Driekop, etc.) one would spot one or more of this factors. These causes are human-made and it therefore will take a human like you to confront such, thus find a solution.

As a society it is high time that we confront the scourge of this virus eating away our young people. The time is now to deal with this illness and get rid of HIV/AIDS in our communities. But to do that effectively we don’t need certain dates in our calendars to remind us. We need real humans; we need the integrity, concern and togetherness to fight it. The solution lies in a united society that realise protecting its youth, is growing their own communities. For the fight against HIV/AIDS to be successful we need a whole sphere of society. We’ll need churches, Schools, stockvels, funeral societies, charities organizations, government and business, households, taverns and shebeens. In each of these places you’re bound to find a flock of young people, female and male. It will be simpler if massages of education, campaigns, guidance and mentorships about HIV/AIDS as well as other chronic illnesses are resumed and spread from there. We must vigorously challenge this epidemic and i believe together we can defeat HIV\AIDS.

Defeated and Deflated. Is this what Solomon Mahlangu Fought

“If they spill my blood, maybe it will give birth to other Solomon’s”

Still remember who spoke this lethal words and why did he say this words? Was the situation conducive enough for him to speak them..?

These words came to me when i was reminiscing about the continued scourge of poverty and inequality engulfing our country. The spilled blood of this astute freedom fighter who wrecked havoc to the previous apartheid regime clearly hasn’t birthed the right calibre of Solomon’s that he, Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu envisaged at his death.

South Africa continues to be a land of inequality and the spiralling of high of unemployment will put Solomon Mahlangu to shame if he was still alive. I doubt this is what he sacrificed his soul and caused his family agony for. Solomon Mahlangu did not fight and die for this country to be where it is now. He envisaged a prosperous country in which its citizen lived in peace, with equal access to opportunities, land and jobs.

I am using Solomon Mahlangu because his fighting consciousness was awaken and rose after he witnessed the 1976 Soweto uprising, where students from Soweto townships revolted against the apartheid government after its imposition of Afrikaans on them.

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was at the time, a young boy playing soccer at an open field near his four roomed house, according to his elder brother, Lucas Mahlangu. I doubt today Mahlangu would be excited to see the extend of violence against men, women and children so rife and perpetuated by the very same people he fought to liberate. Day after day we are bombarded with multiple deaths, rape, Assaults and kidnappings of partners by their partners, parents and trusted confidante. Our society has amassed victims and perpetrators of multiple acts of violence and abuse, yet we do nothing about the situation. We no longer have conscious society where a child is raised by the village. We claim to have attained freedom and think democracy is our beacon of hope when we witness violence on a daily base yet we remain silent and pretend it doesn’t exist.

Youngsters do not wish to emulate the likes of Solomon Mahlangu because society has relegated these freedom icons to mere celebratory dates on our calendas. They are at loggerheads with their schools, parents and governments because violence, and inequality continue to harbor over, this youngsters are exposed to high level of violence and intolerance which makes them believe its the way of life. As the government commemorates the 16 days of Activism for No violence against men, women and children, let us be reminded of the sacrifices that Solomon Mahlangu, Mondy Motloung and others made to all of us. It wasn’t sacrifices to see partners, parents, families and governments to continue abusing and violating others.

Let young people remember that, heros such as Mahlangu did not wish for things to be like this now, but be reminded as he (Mahlangu) puts it blindly before he was hanged “aluta continua”

The is no messiah who is still to come, the struggle to liberate the country has not ended and as we commemorate days of such nobleness as 16 days of Activism let us remember that you are the touch bearer, a light that shines in the dark and a compass that provides direction. Your fight is not yours alone and what you’re fighting for now is to benefit generations to come after you. Instigating violence and abuse is not a good fight if you’re the perpetrator or victim, but you can contribute to the fight to end it, just as Solomon Mahlangu fought to end apartheid.

Glorifying gangsters, violence, drugs and partying should not be your modus operandi; yours should be to crush it down from its head going down, breaking it into pieces and bury it beneath the soil.

“My blood will nourish the trees that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people i love them and they must continue the fight. A luta continua” said Solomon Mahlangu.