My dream is to one day live in an equitable society. Where poverty and food insecurity are no longer the reasons why people have limited possibilities to realize their true potential.
In 2016, I graduated with a degree in food science. On this day, I remember a deep feeling of despair hanging over one of my proudest moments. I felt disgruntled by the reality that most of the food products I would be developing as a food scientist, many South Africans wouldn’t even have access to. I understood thereon that that was something I needed to fix.
In the words of the legendary Nelson Mandela: “overcoming poverty is not a task of charity. It is an act of justice. Like slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” Indeed, the burden to pursue justice had fallen on me.
Being a change agent at heart and my love for research lead me to pursue research in Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development. My projects are centered around evaluating alternative methods for achieving sustainable development in South Africa. My research in rural development looked at how to improve rural agriculture through innovation and partnerships so rural farmers can access secure livelihoods. My research in food and nutrition security looks at how a general awareness of food waste and sustainability among university students can be transformed into action and conduct.
It is based on the Listen, Live, Learn (LLL) Initiative at Stellenbosch University (SU). The LLL initiative brings together student participants from different cultural backgrounds. It causes them to interact with one another to achieve social unity. The initiative also causes the students to critically engage on various topics (such as food security, poverty, and education) to encourage them to create sustainable solutions to influence the South African reality and the world at large. My project aims to create a tool kit for universities to use to establish a university-wide culture of sustainability.
My research journey has opened me up to new possibilities in our global sustainable development efforts. It has also been a journey of self-discovery colored with a lot of ups and downs. And through it all, in the words of Nelson Mandela, I have learned to “let [my] choices reflect [my] hopes, not [my] fears.”