OPINION: Gugs race helps break stereotypes

Phiri Cawe.
I want to hit three birds with one stone here and I do not intend to be politically correct.
Let me start by thanking the Gugulethu community for welcoming us to their hood  on what was both Father’s Day and Youth Day when they hosted the RCS Gugs AC Youth Day Race.
I felt warmth and love from that community as they encouraged thousands of runners who braved the cold, early morning start.
Thank you to the top runners, black, yellow, white and all colours who chose truth over wrong perceptions about townships.
It was a day after I had had a little fall-out with members of my football team. I did not know what direction the day would go.
All I wanted was to run, and run fast. Your truly was to run the 10km with his colleagues.
It really was a special experience all races running through the streets of Gugs.
As I ran alongside a white member of the Tygerberg athletic club, my mind was full of unanswered questions.
As we were talking, at the back of my mind I was wondering how he felt when he saw the Gugulethu Seven memorial. But I avoided that conversation.
Just before the start of the race, I had said to Mbulelo, our financial guru, how beautiful it was to see different people from different backgrounds in the township. I said to him it was stupid of us as people to have all these negative perceptions about our areas.
I noted that they would come there for a race, but come Monday and you speak to them about Gugs, they would refuse to go there for fear of crime.
The Youth Day race should have taught us a few things about all our areas.
It shows that people in unison can conquer. It also says to me that criminals seeing people in unity cannot bother their community or those who visit their areas.
The way we were cheered on in Gugs gave me hope that soon there will be no crime in Manenberg, Bonteheuwel, Langa, Mitchells Plain if you continue visiting these areas with such events.
The race continues to prove that South Africans love each other. Remember that this was not the first race in Gugs.
All the years, I saw the race growing from strength to strength. And I believe each area should have such a race. We all got love in Gugs. 
The marshals were just excellent in encouraging the runners. I was humbled. There were few party spoilers like your amaphelas, but they did not deserve any further mention here.     
Father’s Day gripe

Sunday was also Father’s Day, a day on which father figures were to be celebrated and honoured, but some women chose to hijack it.

All over social media, they celebrated themselves for being single mothers who single-handedly brought up their kids and made blanket statements about men being absent fathers.

Even worse, was that some of them said the day coincided with Youth Day because men refused to grow up. What crap.

A child thrives with the input of both parents, and women should realise that even if they “single-handedly” bring up 100 children, it doesn’t make them fathers.

Have you ever heard men claiming to be mothers on mother’s day? I have huge respect for women in general; they are the people who are carrying us forward, but the disrespect some of them showed for men leaves a lot to be desired.

Of course men make mistakes and have their shortfalls – just like women do.

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