I was brought up by a black South African grandmother and as the eldest family member as well as my primary caregiver throughout my whole life, her beliefs and her teachings are something that I have had easy access to and which would obviously help shape my view of the world, as someone who came from a big family herself she believes that everyone needs someone, induvial need some sort of community because on the journey of life everyone is inevitably going to go through hardships ,that will require you to have a support system or having people around you that know and accept you for who you are without judgment ,but  not only for hard times but for the good times as well , so you can celebrate your achievements with the people who love you the most .As someone who’s more on the introverted side I usually debate about this topic with her and the conclusion is always that he cannot fathom why I would rather live life  alone than have people around me constantly. Respect the black community is held at a high regard it is extremely important to show respect to everyone especially your elders because they carry blessings and wisdom that they can give to you but if you lack respect they won’t give you any of those gifts and you won’t have much of a great life, the interpretations of this may vary from culture to culture but across the board respect is crucial. The significance of the connection between people and nature isn’t a teaching that came from my grandmother but rather a realization I came to through my exploration into South African spirituality, more specifically the healing and cleansing agents of nature such as the water and plants/herbs and occasionally even animals, different cultures in the black ethnic community have different ceremonies and rites of passage that utilize this for example, cleansing of bad omens In moving waters such as the beach or a river as a spiritual practice.

My day begins with the piercing sound of my  alarm violently letting me know that its 5’oclock .I open my eyes and the first thing I see are my blinds because I sleep facing my window , I begin to feel the soothing cold coming from my window which I purposely left open the night before, I get up and off my bed to switch off my alarm ,my phone is taken off the charger and taken with me to bed , to check emails, e-fundi, messages and then scroll on tik tok or Instagram reels until the sun rises around 05:44 ,This is when I start preparing to go take a shower so I gather all my toiletries ,I then leave my room and head to the bathroom to shower. I start with brushing my teeth and proceed to take a goose bump inducing icy-cold shower and just like that I feel refreshed and awake and I can now start thinking about my day. 

After my shower I make my way back to my room to get dressed for school, before I choose my outfit I look outside and also check the weather app and the days temperature so I can dress according to the weather . Once I’ve chosen my outfit I pack my books, leave my room, and go outside my residence to wait for the transport, the pace in which I do all off this all depends on what time I have lectures, the street that I live on is very quiet with a very appealing aesthetic.

My transport always comes 10 minutes later than it should and that makes me anxious especially if I have a class in the next 30 mins and I only have 15 to 20 mins to get to class. When I arrive at school I go straight to the student center or if I have I lecture I go to class, I meet my friends in class and we spend the whole school day together because were studying the same course.

At the end of my school day I leave campus and go home with my designated transport. At this point I’m usually extremely tired but I can’t immediately go lay in bed because I always feel sticky and gross after coming back from school, so I take a shower to clean up I then get dressed make myself some food and then either do notes or assignments then go to bed around 23:00.

https://youtu.be/v5fQsnttxP0?si=60JaYRXMFdtEzHIP

When we observe the way other continent's view Africa, we could all agree that their view perspective is coming from a westernized single story generated and perpetuated by the West. The West has successfully created a narrative that the African continent is destitute, and if it was not for the Western Powers taking over the land and colonizing the indigenous people of Africa at that time, our continent wouldn't be as developed as it is now, hence the supposition is that we as Africans are to the regard in the west as our Saviour.

Western Powers saw African civilization as primitive, unsophisticated and simple and to them this was something unfamiliar thus the concept of othering, they thought of themselves as superior and created the them versus us narrative which supported them separating westerners and Africans off of the ideology that they are nothing like Africans.

to further dehumanize Africans, they propagated a stereotyped image of Africa, an example made by Binyavanga Wanaina in 'How to Write About Africa' Wanaina says that "Any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the REAL Africa" these are instructions given to the distributers of media to further feed the Westernized stereotype of Africa.

An exoticized image of Africans walking around bare foot and naked, with big breasts bottoms and genetalia ,who only eat food they have physically hunted and grown and spend their day under the African sun interacting with wildlife, is to evoke the feeling of pity or the poverty stricken Africans.

The aim is to try keep Africa viewed as an impoverished society so they can be looked at as rescuers an continue to extort and take advantage of Africans resources and people.