"People of Africa must develop themselves to become self-reliant. We must take care of our communities, especially the youth, as they are the future," is the message from Siyanda Dlamini, who recently visited several African countries, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Tanzania, and Namibia, before returning to South Africa last week.
Dlamini walked to these countries, averaging between 30 to 40 km per day. He spent nights at different lodges or holiday resorts throughout his journey but boarded a bus from Tanzania back to South Africa.
Limpopo Mirror caught up with him last week when he visited Louis Trichardt to raise funds. He spent two days in town, and Nonaka Camping Resort catered for his accommodation. "I am fundraising to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in January next year," he told Limpopo Mirror.
Dlamini is on a mission to establish a peace centre in KwaZulu-Natal that will host more than 200 visitors. He plans to engage the community and advocate for peace and stability across Africa.
"Throughout the countries I visited, I realised we share several common experiences. In some places, children do not attend school because they find education unreliable as there are few job opportunities in most of the countries I visited. Another interesting observation is that the national anthems of these countries are quite similar, often calling upon God to bless Africa," he said.
Dlamini did not face any major challenges during his journey. "I was thrilled to note that most of the countries are very safe to travel through. There are no gun-wielding criminals in these countries. In Botswana, for example, it is very safe to leave one's car with the keys in it for a long time, and no one will tamper with it," Dlamini said.