A letter to my nephew, Ndalo

Dear Ndalo, 1 I was recently invited to think about the direction of our country, South Africa, and where it and our lives might be heading in the next ten years.I couldn't help but think of you because in ten years you will be 12 years old.You will be around, just about to start your teen years and complicate our lives further -we'll see you cry, and laugh as you start to make sense of the world that presents itself before you.I write to you out of utter concern, and at times sheer anger.The country in which I was born 26 years ago looks very different today, and as you grow I see the state of our country continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate.You will grow into a beautiful and intelligent young Black man, and you should not be surprised by the experiences you will encounter as you grow, but that said, this letter is about your country and the relationship it has with your racial categorisation.My brother -your father -tells me you are a picture of health, a bouncing and always laughing baby boy, keen to walk this Earth.I always watch your videos as I walk to school, sometimes I laugh uncontrollably, I'm sure I've shocked a person or two in the streets around Oxford, here in the UK.You are unlike me.I was a forever sick baby, I'm sure your grandmother will tell you loads of stories about sleeping in ambulances, hospitals and on clinic benches.You are like your father, he has remained the epitome of health, and approached life so easily, laughing when everyone is crying, turning worries into jokes and we laugh.I pray that your contagious laughter lives on.Unlike your father and possibly you, I've always been concerned with my health, and life stress, paying too much attention to detail.So, that is why I remember my upbringing so clearly.At your age, I had hopped up and down on multiple hospitals and clinic beds, giving your grandmother a hard time.I have faint memories, often refreshed by your grandmother telling tales about her experiences in hospitals and clinics.What I know is that healthcare agencies functioned a lot better then and that is why I am alive and writing to you today.I was born two years after our country obtained total democratic independence in 1994; your father was born exactly a month after the birth of our democracy.Things looked promising, so I am told.But now, things look very different, not only to me, but also to many youngsters I've had conversations with about the future of our country, both in the UK, where I study, and back at home in Durban.I must say, it's concerning, from health and social services and education, SPECIAL ISSUE • Families, Relationships and Societies: a decade of scholarship and agendas for the future

Combinatorics · Linguistics · Nephew and niece · Cultural Competency in Health Care · Empathy and Medical Education · Global Health Workforce Issues · Mathematics · Philosophy