[Music]
my feet have caused they ever crowded
knock on the border of Tanzania I have
shook hands with the poor yet wise
people of Kibera I have shared meals
with the Nubian elders under the
shimmering African sky the cooling
showers of more cor tuna otherwise known
as the Victoria Falls have run down my
back I have seen beauty beyond
description in Maputo my eyes have
peeped through the airplane window just
they too have witnessed the Indian and
the Atlantic Ocean do a forbidden kiss
by the Cape Point from Cape to Cairo I
have fallen in love with this beautiful
land I’ve ridden a claim all over the
hot Egyptian desert just to protectingly
gaze at the majestic man-made mountains
of Giza I have sat at the great mapa
movie Hill and wondered what if rocks
could speak what ancient stories could
they tell us I have witnessed the
African yellow sunset through God’s
window in poor malanga and I have heard
echoes from my ancestors it is and
runner gently whispering Africa is
beautiful
so now wouldn’t you want to experience
the same ladies and gentlemen let’s
travel Africa this is a short poem that
I’ve written about my travel experiences
when I’m not a poet I’m a traveler I’ve
been travelling the African continent
since there 2006 and I’ve never looked
back ever since the reason why I started
travelling at first it was to fulfill a
curiosity it was to learn more about us
beyond our South African borders but
ever since then
after falling in love we travel and the
beautiful continent now how did I get
here you may be asking yourself well I
wasn’t born a traveler in fact the first
time I stepped out of my home province
kwazulu-natal was when I went for my
tertiary education in Pretoria and there
mingling with people from different
cultures and backgrounds I fell in love
the world is a book and those who do not
travel read only a page those are the
famous words of st. Augustine which have
propelled and inspired me to travel the
African continent because I believe it
forms a huge chunk of the book now we
all are familiar with this image here
which is it’s the world map but how many
of you are familiar with effects that
Africa’s landmass is larger than their
of the United States of America China
Japan India and all of Europe combined
in fact you can almost fit the entire
United Kingdom in Madagascar alone so if
we take this and sent Augustine’s coat
into consideration then maybe we can
safely rephrase and say the world is a
book and those who do not travel Africa
but wait a minute when a person says to
you let’s travel or in someone stays to
you or mentions the word travel how many
of you link it to Africa how many of you
think of Africa the truth is not many
most people when they hear the word
travel they immediately think of Paris
America London and seldom Africa I have
asked myself why is that what has shaped
our thoughts towards this well I have
come up with a way for Africa to at
least explain and perhaps vindicate
herself by using her acronym the first
thing we need to ask ourselves is what
do we know about Africa well for the
longest time Africa has been portrayed
as a poverty-stricken continent a duck
continent it has been called much has
been written about Africa and indeed
much has been said about Africa but the
perception that Africa is backward it
remains but did you know that the first
University in the world was built in
Africa the university of some horror in
Mali so how can a frico be dark and be
back white so with this being said I’ve
looked for reasons as to why people do
not travel the African continent
I’ve asked myself is it maybe ignorance
fear caused concerns for safety other
people have told me that it’s expensive
to travel the African continent but I
remember when I first created my own
myself and a friend of mine we put
ourself a pass to Mozambique although we
made some mistakes like when we stepped
out of South Africa on our way
we actually realized that we hadn’t
gotten a stamp into Mozambique so we
were almost arrested at the border
because there was no proof that we had
been in the country legally
now the rest experienced offers from
travelling further into Africa no and
did we in a way learn something from
that yes we did which now takes me to
the importance of travelling Africa and
one of the main ones is that you find
inspiration across borders like for
instance when I met this gentleman by
the name of Annie TK he taught me the
art of silkscreen printing and in a way
he inspired me to establish a zine a
soda clothing brand but we’re travelling
Africa there are challenges that we face
and one of them is the bad
transportation infrastructure but they
didn’t stop me from curating a trip to
Tanzania it took us four day four days
to get there but anyway we learned so
much from their experience and with this
being said we need to be reminded also
of the achievements that we can
accomplish when we travel that weekend
continent and one of them is creating
cross-border relationships and
friendships and also intro trade and
thus boosting the Africa the economy
also the main ones is as we get to know
each other as friends we can in a way
count as Anna phobia that when I met in
TBC Pirie
a curator at the National Art Gallery of
Kabul away oh and he upon learning that
I was a photographer he invited me to
exhibitions and trade shows years later
after our meeting so with this being
said I have actually asked myself what
is travel and according to the
dictionary travel is to move from one
place to the next some people think that
travel is all about posing in front of
statues or hugging buildings for me
travel
it’s about what happens in between those
moments for me travel is more than just
parachuting myself from one place to the
next travel for me is connection like
when I met the new peon elders in Aswan
Alibaba our tour guide he later
translated to me that they said that I
am new beard I am one of them travel is
interaction like when I interacted with
the kids from Khepera
the largest lamb in Africa travel is
learning that when I learned to sail a
felucca by the nile river travel is
finding friendship like when I became
friends with Nicole and Cedric
during my not African trip travel is
facing your fears and travel is self
interrogation travel also is there
waiting named after senses I believe the
best experiences are not the ones that
you read through from blogs and also
from the best travel movie the best
experiences is when you are out there
travel for me is raw and unrehearsed the
best souvenirs we collect and not the
pictures or the things that we buy from
curio shops I believe it’s the smiles
and the kind words from strangers travel
for me is a way of enriching one’s life
I believe one does not travel because
they are rich poor one is rich because
so what traveling Africa has taught me
is that Africa is a land of extravagant
beauty here is a land of a people so
rich in history and heritage people will
thrive on the spirit of Ubuntu the very
essence of humanity
what traveling Africa has taught me is
the importance of sharing my story from
a learned experience rather than
spreading a rumor so the idea for me is
to see more young people travel the
African continent in a way we achieve a
call of having people who are conscious
ladies and gentlemen let’s travel Africa
so there in a way as we travel and
discover our world who will discover
[Applause] you
my feet have caused they ever crowded
knock on the border of Tanzania I have
shook hands with the poor yet wise
people of Kibera I have shared meals
with the Nubian elders under the
shimmering African sky the cooling
showers of more cor tuna otherwise known
as the Victoria Falls have run down my
back I have seen beauty beyond
description in Maputo my eyes have
peeped through the airplane window just
they too have witnessed the Indian and
the Atlantic Ocean do a forbidden kiss
by the Cape Point from Cape to Cairo I
have fallen in love with this beautiful
land I’ve ridden a claim all over the
hot Egyptian desert just to protectingly
gaze at the majestic man-made mountains
of Giza I have sat at the great mapa
movie Hill and wondered what if rocks
could speak what ancient stories could
they tell us I have witnessed the
African yellow sunset through God’s
window in poor malanga and I have heard
echoes from my ancestors it is and
runner gently whispering Africa is
beautiful
so now wouldn’t you want to experience
the same ladies and gentlemen let’s
travel Africa this is a short poem that
I’ve written about my travel experiences
when I’m not a poet I’m a traveler I’ve
been travelling the African continent
since there 2006 and I’ve never looked
back ever since the reason why I started
travelling at first it was to fulfill a
curiosity it was to learn more about us
beyond our South African borders but
ever since then
after falling in love we travel and the
beautiful continent now how did I get
here you may be asking yourself well I
wasn’t born a traveler in fact the first
time I stepped out of my home province
kwazulu-natal was when I went for my
tertiary education in Pretoria and there
mingling with people from different
cultures and backgrounds I fell in love
the world is a book and those who do not
travel read only a page those are the
famous words of st. Augustine which have
propelled and inspired me to travel the
African continent because I believe it
forms a huge chunk of the book now we
all are familiar with this image here
which is it’s the world map but how many
of you are familiar with effects that
Africa’s landmass is larger than their
of the United States of America China
Japan India and all of Europe combined
in fact you can almost fit the entire
United Kingdom in Madagascar alone so if
we take this and sent Augustine’s coat
into consideration then maybe we can
safely rephrase and say the world is a
book and those who do not travel Africa
but wait a minute when a person says to
you let’s travel or in someone stays to
you or mentions the word travel how many
of you link it to Africa how many of you
think of Africa the truth is not many
most people when they hear the word
travel they immediately think of Paris
America London and seldom Africa I have
asked myself why is that what has shaped
our thoughts towards this well I have
come up with a way for Africa to at
least explain and perhaps vindicate
herself by using her acronym the first
thing we need to ask ourselves is what
do we know about Africa well for the
longest time Africa has been portrayed
as a poverty-stricken continent a duck
continent it has been called much has
been written about Africa and indeed
much has been said about Africa but the
perception that Africa is backward it
remains but did you know that the first
University in the world was built in
Africa the university of some horror in
Mali so how can a frico be dark and be
back white so with this being said I’ve
looked for reasons as to why people do
not travel the African continent
I’ve asked myself is it maybe ignorance
fear caused concerns for safety other
people have told me that it’s expensive
to travel the African continent but I
remember when I first created my own
myself and a friend of mine we put
ourself a pass to Mozambique although we
made some mistakes like when we stepped
out of South Africa on our way
we actually realized that we hadn’t
gotten a stamp into Mozambique so we
were almost arrested at the border
because there was no proof that we had
been in the country legally
now the rest experienced offers from
travelling further into Africa no and
did we in a way learn something from
that yes we did which now takes me to
the importance of travelling Africa and
one of the main ones is that you find
inspiration across borders like for
instance when I met this gentleman by
the name of Annie TK he taught me the
art of silkscreen printing and in a way
he inspired me to establish a zine a
soda clothing brand but we’re travelling
Africa there are challenges that we face
and one of them is the bad
transportation infrastructure but they
didn’t stop me from curating a trip to
Tanzania it took us four day four days
to get there but anyway we learned so
much from their experience and with this
being said we need to be reminded also
of the achievements that we can
accomplish when we travel that weekend
continent and one of them is creating
cross-border relationships and
friendships and also intro trade and
thus boosting the Africa the economy
also the main ones is as we get to know
each other as friends we can in a way
count as Anna phobia that when I met in
TBC Pirie
a curator at the National Art Gallery of
Kabul away oh and he upon learning that
I was a photographer he invited me to
exhibitions and trade shows years later
after our meeting so with this being
said I have actually asked myself what
is travel and according to the
dictionary travel is to move from one
place to the next some people think that
travel is all about posing in front of
statues or hugging buildings for me
travel
it’s about what happens in between those
moments for me travel is more than just
parachuting myself from one place to the
next travel for me is connection like
when I met the new peon elders in Aswan
Alibaba our tour guide he later
translated to me that they said that I
am new beard I am one of them travel is
interaction like when I interacted with
the kids from Khepera
the largest lamb in Africa travel is
learning that when I learned to sail a
felucca by the nile river travel is
finding friendship like when I became
friends with Nicole and Cedric
during my not African trip travel is
facing your fears and travel is self
interrogation travel also is there
waiting named after senses I believe the
best experiences are not the ones that
you read through from blogs and also
from the best travel movie the best
experiences is when you are out there
travel for me is raw and unrehearsed the
best souvenirs we collect and not the
pictures or the things that we buy from
curio shops I believe it’s the smiles
and the kind words from strangers travel
for me is a way of enriching one’s life
I believe one does not travel because
they are rich poor one is rich because
so what traveling Africa has taught me
is that Africa is a land of extravagant
beauty here is a land of a people so
rich in history and heritage people will
thrive on the spirit of Ubuntu the very
essence of humanity
what traveling Africa has taught me is
the importance of sharing my story from
a learned experience rather than
spreading a rumor so the idea for me is
to see more young people travel the
African continent in a way we achieve a
call of having people who are conscious
ladies and gentlemen let’s travel Africa
so there in a way as we travel and
discover our world who will discover
[Applause] you
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