What’s your passion?

As an academic, scholar and activist, my passion is to contribute to the strengthening of the African health system for the betterment of the African people. I exercise this passion in areas of public health, gender equity and equality, fostering social change, community development, transformation, global citizenship and incessantly challenging historical and contemporary social injustices.

I identify myself as a pro-African feminist man and aim to use my areas of research and scholarship to assist in the development and rewriting the narrative of the African Continent.

What change are you keen to drive?

There are major gaps within our current health system and my aim is to contribute to health systems strengthening through knowledge production, activism and capacity building at both micro and macro levels of society.

At a community level I am passionate about mobilising people so that we can address issues at a micro level, through sharing knowledge and engaging people I aim to drive change, promote consciousness and in turn mitigate human suffering, oppression and marginalisation.

How are you driving change?

I am driving change through my research, currently I am preparing for my PHD that will focus on the effects of violence and how people understand and experience violence in their personal and public spaces. Violence and associated issues are important to me because it is one of the main public health issues impeding the development and progression of South African people. Through my work, I seek to gain narratives and knowledge from communities that are unrepresented and get their stories and voices into mainstream media.

My aim is to engage people as active partners in producing knowledge about their subjective realities and to advocate for inclusion and social justice.

My current and prospective scholarly work is grounded in Health Systems and Policy Research and I have written articles and forthcoming academic journal publications in the areas of Gender & Sexualities, TB & HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Transformation.

Along with a group of other Activators, we founded a platform, www.afro-stories.co.za, which gives voice to marginal narratives and encourages understanding of issues and successes from the ground up.

I am also involved in research contributing to the knowledge gaps in the newly implemented National Health Insurance (NHI) in SA.

For the past two years I have worked in TB and HIV research focussing on the implementation of a new diagnostic TB tool – GeneXpert.

How has ACTIVATE! supported you so far in driving this change?

I have gained a network of support; it has enhanced my social capital and assisted me in gaining perspective of what my specific interests are and how I can exercise my passionate in concrete ways

ACTIVATE! has helped me to connect the dots and enhance my perspective in applying and integrating my academic experience with driving change in communities.

How do you motivate yourself?

I’m motivated by my passion – to see the betterment of the African people and the African continent. My mom has also been amazing by always supporting my vision.

Final comment?

My enthusiasm stems from coming from an under-resourced community and my studies have ignited a passion in me to be an activist. I want to enable people to access knowledge through my research so that they are informed. I have learned that by thinking critically I can contribute positively.