My wish for South Africa in 2016

I am probably one of a few South Africans who loves my country as much as I do. No matter where I travel and who I meet, I would still want to come back and live here. Of course we have huge problems and there is a lot I could say about what is not so good about South Africa, but in the same breath, there are endless problems citizens in other countries face as well. I just choose to focus on the positive, as I am bringing my kids up in this nation and my job is to present the best yet realistic version of what the country is.

There is however one issue that I cannot seem to step aside and brush off because no matter how we try to sweep it under the rug, it comes up almost daily.

So here it is, my wish for South Africa in 2016:

I wish that I lived in a South Africa that was fair. Not because, I am coloured and the laws state that I need to be treated a certain way. 

I wish it was fair to me, my black and white friends all in the same way.

I wish I was spoken to because of who I am, not people either forcing themselves to talk to me   
because of our laws, or avoiding me in fear that they might say something wrong. 

I wish I lived in a country where we were all equal in every way, and that my BEE status was not ever in question. 

I wish for Our country saw us all the same at the pension lines, upper class resort and in the squatter camps. 

I wish Our government would forget apartheid ever existed and just decide that black, white, indian and coloured were not the color of their people at all, because who cared how you look any way? 

I wish that the mother who told her daughter today that we were "baddies" at our Bush Lodge was educated in a mixed school with different types of educators where it did not matter which demographic you came from, you are a person with feelings. 

I wish for our Nation that the realtor who had made racist remarks about Durbans beaches this week, will help the same people she hurt and insulted's lives and just takes time to get to know the people behind the complexion. 

I too wish for My South Africa that no matter who I live with, where I live and how much money I make, I am still only classified as a true South African who dreams of changing the ills in our country no matter who my president is.

Those are my dreams for South Africa this year. Although the pains we experience lately from people of our own land are still there, they should not stop us from deciding to be different and to look at other people in the eye and not what they perceive those people to be. There is no more excuse for this behaviour, I don't care who you are.

Nelson Mandel Lived his Destiny, But we have corrupted is Legacy!

Despite all that, I am proud that my daughter goes to a school where she is taught by white South Africans who talk afrikaans and has Black friends who teach her Zulu. She sees no difference and loves them both the same. I trust that the way we bring or children up will make all my dreams for 2016 come true, even if it is only 10 years from now. Its a reality I will groom them to make happen, even if there are those who would rather it not.