03/06/2019
Nathan Edward Swartz
Youth Ambassador & Full Time UJ Honours Student
(BA Hons – Politics & International Relations)
TTP Alumni (2012-2014)
I spent my week, in a state of TTP nostalgia, scrolling all the way down on the TTP Facebook timeline to 2013/14, looking back, reminiscing on the great distance I came, the memories I made as footprints along my path to the present, recollecting in consciousness, the numerous lessons and values that slowly, with each TTP session, moulded a small but significant part of this search for purpose and journey for success I continue to walk today.
It is from my experiences during my time at TTP that defining moments of my vision as a young African leader was birth into reality, within these defining moments, came the voice of purpose whispering oh so gently from the wilderness of my personal circumstances.
I come from Ennerdale; a little town situated South-West of Johannesburg. An underdeveloped community wherein youth are exploited by substance abuse, gang violence, teenage pregnancy and youth unemployment. Often have I observed many who fail to look any further beyond the town’s borders. Enslaved by the mentality of accepting their hope in change stolen by their circumstances. Born into a clergy family where both my parents are unemployed and disabled, I grew up facing numerous challenges, loss and at times very few opportunities.
I can recall my very first TTP June Contact Session, I remember being overwhelmed by this sense of intimidation, surrounded by these brilliant students from all walks of life, brought together from every corner of South Africa, some who came from schools that just seemed way better than my own school, Fred Norman Secondary School. I found myself comparing my reality; I had accepted my circumstances of my hometown as my identity.
This identity, through being exposed to the various elements of the TTP Program would soon be challenged and gently wither away, replaced with hope and a new perspective. It was challenged in the early morning Norming and Storming Sessions where we gained energy for the intense day ahead, the macarena, the chicken dance and the Cha Slide among the vast range of activities that brought about a new joy, an opportunity to look beyond the reality I came from.
My identity of circumstance was also challenged in our TTP groups, daunting strangers with an academic attitude to kill any problem in-front of them, who later became like family, brothers and sisters, having to work together to find understanding and growth in navigating intense subjects such as math and science.
TTP was more than just a Pre-University Program aimed at improving my math and science marks, it went over and beyond that simple goal. TTP equip me with skills and values I would never have discovered in the borders of my challenged community, it shifted and challenged my perspective on every element of world around me.
Through the various excursions, to places like the Apartheid Museum, TTP broadened my mind to realize the potential I had as a young African leader, born on a continent often perceived as having nothing innovative to offer the rest of the world. TTP planted a seed of purpose, growing my life passion for the field of political science, international relations and development.
After a presentation on Nelson Mandela’s Conversations With Myself, during a TTP contact session held at Birchwood, came one of those defining moments that would send my life into a whole new direction…One Quote: “Men and Women all over the world, right down the centuries, come and go. Some leave nothing behind, not even their names. It would seem that they never existed at all”…
If it had not been for my TTP experience, if it had not been for the constant encouragement and motivation that I gained from every single person and part of this great program, I would not have unlocked the new perspective I came to discover, that among all the pains in the world, one cannot be a spectator rather, should seek to be active change-makers, challenging perspectives, breaking paradigms and building bridges of understanding in all of humanity, one person at a time.
We in an ever changing society, at the door to the 4th Industrial Revolution, no longer can we aim to be comfortable with specialized careers, neither can we ignore the potential we all have to take this continent to whole new heights, for this new future we need individuals who are prepared to go beyond the borders of their own realities, ready to be equip to understand the complexities that lie before us as humankind.
We need politicians that would understand the value of innovation in science and technology, we need IT/Software Developers & Engineers that would understand the social challenges of human society, the misuse of technology for harsh crimes such as human trafficking, we need institutions who are ready to collapse the walls that separate faculties such as the Social Sciences and Engineering.
And that revolution starts at developing strong and capable leaders who will challenge the status quo, and strive to be ground-breakers in their field of study, leaders who would heed to the call of their inner passions and strive to be as lighthouses of hope in their communities, individuals who would like to do more than just exist.
As I conclude, I have come to discover that life is constant process of change, an existential call for purpose. We often accept the limitations of the world around us, at the cost of our true passions, we tend to remain comfortable with just being average, fitting in and assimilating to standard script presented by society. Yet, as Joseph Campbell once jotted down, it is in the cave that we fear to enter where our greatest treasure lies. TTP has given me hope in myself, it had deposited the faith I needed to look beyond the borders of my community, it has reminded me to Strive for more than academic excellence, strive for more than just making it through high school, but to strive to leave a legacy that will inspire change in many generations to come, no matter how small my contribution to society.
So, no matter where you come from, let me leave you with the personal truth I came to discover, that circumstance shall not be the dictator of one's goals, but that potential shall be ignited and reign always where it is encouraged and given the light shine. —TTP has given you that very light!
