Geci’s inviting smile, assuring eyes make it easy to feel safe in her company. A highly skilled facilitator of many things progressive. When you are in her company, there is joy, laughter and an openness that allows you to be YOU.
A good Samaritan, mother and a scholar, Geci loves to see others grow. My interactions with her are always about finding a way forward.
Her note below reminds me that freedom is about being responsible not only for ourselves but for the next generation. Our actions today will be a reference point, it is our responsibility with each action to choose for them and because of them. It is not only about us anymore.
Thank you for pulling me UP and for walking with me home to ME.
Rise.
I rise...
...because of my Father who told me I'd have to work three times as hard for any thing I'd ever get in this world - for being black, for being African, and for being female.
...because of my Mother who told me that "you can take a donkey to the river, but you can't force it to drink".
...because of my Daughters and the generations behind me who look to me with questioning eyes, overflowing dreams and empty bellies... who weigh on me, making me realise that my fears and doubts are a luxury and that my rise gives buoyancy to theirs.
…because of an Otherwise which courts me and teases me, challenging me to stretch, to fall, to break, to slow down, to admit that I know nothing, to keep at it even as “it” morphs in complex perpetuity.
...because of the Universe which keeps on showing me, over and over again, that what goes around comes around in mysterious ways, and that there's always something new to be learned, and to be thought, and to be thankful for... always.
... I feel purposeful
and powerful
and beautiful
and mysterious
and whole.
I also feel allowed to be vulnerable
Because I know that still, I shall rise
I feel encouraged to help and let others rise
Because I know that still, I shall rise
And because I rise
we can continue
Dr Geci Karuri-Sebina is a Johannesburg-based scholar-practitioner whose experience and interests span a range of development foresight, policy, innovation and practice topics, particularly relating to cities and local innovation systems.
She is currently an Associate with South African Cities Network, Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, and National Organiser for the Civic Tech Innovation Network.
For more info, connect with Geci on Linked In.
My name is Nokubonga Mbanga and I am committed to making an impact.
I work with talented, driven & productive individuals and organisations that want to make a difference in the world while honouring their values & inner wisdom.
