My biggest takeaway from Session 1 was how much we share in the ways we think about ourselves. The group coaching format allowed me to recognise aspects of myself in others and see my own thoughts and patterns from a fresh perspective. It also reminded me that I’m not alone in these experiences.

Yesterday, South Africans went to the polls. If you were among those who stood in a queue and casted your vote, I salute you. It may have felt like a small act. It was not. It is hard to hold on to hope when everyday life feels like an uphill battle: rising food and petrol prices, dry taps, and potholes so large that giraffes could play hide-and-seek in them. Senseless wars, based on greed and inflated egos, leading to the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, which in turn leads to petrol prices skyrocketing. It is easy to feel overwhelmed. Disappointed. Powerless. The honourable former Minister of Transport, Mr Fikile April Mbalula, now the Secretary General of the ANC, declared this week that potholes exist because of climate change. Ja nee wat, these are the same political leaders some of us choose to keep in positions of power. When taps run dry, and explanations offer little comfort, we need more than words. We need accountability, and the courage to keep asking for it. James Baldwin puts it this way, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Voting is one way we exercise that courage. It does not fix everything overnight. It says: my vote matters; my voice matters; my family matters; and the conditions we live in matter. I understand the temptation to treat election day as a holiday and leave the politics to someone else. Disappointment can wear us down. Yet every person who showed up chose contribution over resignation. My son, Kitso, reminded me why that choice is deeply personal. Yesterday, he said, “Of course we are voting, it is the least we can do to honour the time Mom had spent in jail all those years ago.” His words brought me back to what that struggle had cost, and what we had hoped it would make possible. In the powerful words of Steve Biko , “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”[1] Mindset shifts are required to remain engaged in civil society matters, despite disappointment.