An ever-widening circle

According to Joseph Campbell’s book “The Hero’s Journey”, one of the early stages of a hero’s journey is the ‘call to adventure.’ My call to adventure was to hand in an application for the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, an all-inclusive scholarship including a robust leadership development programme to help build Africa’s next generation of leaders. Many months later I was invited for an in-person interview at none other than Nelson Mandela’s former Cape Town home. Our first encounter with each other as scholars was at the interviews, where we marvelled at being selected to become potential members of this circle of recognition. Then finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the final list of names was released, and our biographies were posted on the MRF website. From now on, whenever we Google ourselves, it will always read, Mandela Rhodes Scholar 2024 (how awesome it that!).

Looking back at this, much of it seemed like a show. We were still coiled in our own individual shells in anticipation for our first workshop in February. Those bright faces were now before one another for the first time, and finally it was time for the masks to come off. As the soprano opera legend Maria Callas famously said, “when the curtain rises, the only thing that speaks is courage.” The curtain rose and all that remained was us. I had no idea what the programme would entail, nor did I know how truly transformative this journey was going to be.

Enneagram workshop

We were challenged to be vulnerable with one another from the very beginning, mapping a ‘Design Team Alliance’ on how we each wanted to be in front of each other, to make our team function properly. Our work with the Enneagram helped us find out more about our core motivations and showed us how to work towards a more integrated approach to life. We had a visit to Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 18 of his 27 incarcerated years. The experience left us contemplative and reflective of the journey South Africa has been on in the last 30 years. A group exercise involved designing the ideal African leader, one that we all wanted. We all came with our own research on what we felt were strong and poor African leaders. With our collective knowledge we were able to craft the ‘leader of our dreams.’ The night before our departure, some of us braved the stage and shared our individual talents in a wonderful showcase of literary, musical and spoken word talent.

1st Year Scholars in Robben Island

A few months later we met once again for our regional pods meeting. Here we reviewed our collective journeys since the first workshop, which included a discussion on Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” As always, the discussions were spirited and a shining example of the critical thinking we were encouraged to do.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy”. We uncovered tragedies when we started sharing our individual journeys. The second workshop left all of us challenged and reflective. The central force of the week was reconciliation and reparation, and what that meant to all of us on a personal and interpersonal level. We delved deeper into our Enneagram work, with added appreciation of our individual types, while learning about integration, release points and our defence mechanisms. We had a pyjama party on the first evening where we watched the documentary ‘A New Country’. The film raised many questions and discourse among scholars as we reflected on South Africa’s journey to reconciliation post apartheid, and how effective we felt these efforts were. Two days later filmmaker Sifiso Khanyile and artist Lady Skollie joined us in conversation. What a treasure it was to gaze upon their faces as they generously shared their knowledge and journeys over a lovely dinner

Kudzai with Lady Skollie

We were also privileged to have talks from Andy Muranda and Tapiwa Guzha. Andy spoke of the history of Africanism; African philosophies, identity, science and anthropology. Tapiwa shared his journey about starting an ice-cream brand (using typically African ingredients) after years of working as a microbiologist. The evening ended with a live performance by musician Mapumba Cilombo, where we sang, danced and released all inhibitions!

Since joining the programme, I feel that I have become more myself. Through the dialogue and space shared with the other scholars, I have been able to express my ideas without fear or reservation. I have learned the importance of personal development and that working on myself is not a selfish endeavour.

2024 cohort introductory session in January

In retrospect, it is astonishing to see that the more I journey inwards towards myself, the more I'm able to connect with others. I have asked myself countless times how I will ever be able to repay this great opportunity. But I feel the only way I can do this, is to pay it forward by becoming the best version of myself as I serve my environment.

Apart from the magnificent life changes I have witnessed in my peers; it has been so gratifying to be in community with people who do not judge me when I open up about my thoughts. The gatherings allow us to abandon ourselves to pleasure, supported by our spirited group WhatsApp conversations with the family we are building. A hero is many things, but one thing a hero will never be is perfect, that is one thing I have learned to make peace with. Flaws and imperfections, we grapple with them daily and not allow them to stop our progress. I am looking forward to a lifetime of carrying Mr Mandela’s name in support of the work he started decades ago. The circle of the scholars will continue to widen, and I am proud to belong to this group.