Lotz of thoughts

  This year's holidays for our family were interesting, different and once in a lifetime like I guess most of the experiences we had this year, right? Our holidays:            smelled of hand sanitizer; had a view of forms and thermometers; felt like a long-distance, a social distance; sounded like the covid numbers on the radio; had a sour taste that the world is not going to be the same before. But we were together, the four of us against the world.... During lockdown this year, we got to spend more time with our kids and with each other. It was all, however, within the stress of everyday life, within crisis management conditions, within the fear of the unknown that was unfolding slowly day by day.  This year gave me the gift of re-evaluating my desires, needs and priorities (we were among the lucky ones). These holidays were the closing of the "deal". We saw each other not as we do daily but as who we really are. We enjoyed life's small things, that are not small a

Where do I fit in in the discussion about Young Academies of Science, leadership and career development?  So, I am a member of the South African Young Academy of Science ( SAYAS ) – outgoing co-chair, a member of the Global Young Academy ( GYA ), former co-leader of the women in Science working group and also a fellow of the Africa Science Leadership Programme ( ASLP ).  Does anybody count the acronyms? Hehe In a variety of different discussions within this year, I made a statement paraphrasing the one by US President Kennedy “Ask not what the Young Academy of Science can do for you, but what you can do for the Young Academy of Science”. By this statement, I am pointing out an interesting phenomenon with the organisations I am involved in: the more you give the more you take. So let me take the discussion a step back…. In 2017, the Dean of my Faculty asked me to apply to become a member at SAYAS. Being in social sciences, economics, I was not even sure of what exactly that meant, but

  MySouthAfrica is the one that smiles with the eyes – even behind the mask. MySouthAfrica  is the one that says Dumela or Good morning or any other greeting – the language does not matter, the well-meant wish does. MySouthAfrica  is the one that sings in the taxi stop. MySouthAfrica  is the one that cheers you when they see you struggling in the uphill (literally and metaphorically). MySouthAfrica  is the one that is in pain, that “bleeds” right and left but we have overcome worse, we will do it again. MySouthAfrica  is sunshine in the winter and a cool summer storm. MySouthAfrica  is not a rainbow or black and white; it is more than that, it is all the colours and shades to create the most amazing pictures of the world around us.  MySouthAfrica is the definition of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" (Aristotle).    MySouthAfrica  shares. MySouthAfrica  cares. MySouthAfrica  hopes. MySouthAfrica  will bounce back.

A month (and a day) ago, on a Sunday evening we heard President Ramaphosa announcing that the coming Thursday the country is entering a 21-day period of lockdown – to be later expanded with extra two weeks. That Monday, our family decided to #stayhome – it is 30 days today, a full month! Overall, our family has dealt with the situation with positive energy, although not all the days are as if out of a TV commercial. We don’t laugh the whole time, although we try. We don’t cuddle the whole time, although we want. We don’t sing and dance, although the boys have the energy to do so. But as a family, we do many things together; we value the family meals and discussions, we read books laying in one bed, we watch movies holding hugs, we work productively so that we play afterwards, and we fight and makeup. Most of all, this lockdown gave us more time to think – slow thinking though, not the one that is compulsory for work purposes. Here, I am sharing four of the recurring thoughts