The significance of June, 16th

Today, in my country, we celebrate a holiday: Youth Day.

[This post will be short and to the point, unfortunately, I cannot dedicate the amount of time that such an honourable day deserves.  I've made impromptu travelling plans and need to prepare and pack and I've only a few hours to do so today.]

It could easily be thought that we are just having a day exclusively catered to the attention of the youth in our country, you know, just to be conscience about matters but that's not true.  This day bears a significance that will be forever etched on the South African collective conscience.

June, 16th commemorates the start of the Soweto Riots of 1976, also widely known as the Soweto Uprising.  An uprising that many will say was the turning point in the liberation struggle in South Africa.  Thousands of students took to the streets on that fateful day to protest against the Afrikaans Medium Decree - simply put, saying no to be taught in the sole language Bishop Desmond Tutu once labelled as "the language of the oppressor". 
I'll go out on a limb and say that nobody does not know of the iconic picture of Hector Pieterson, as he was carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo after being shot by the South African police.  That picture, symbolising such heroism, caused outrage internationally, condemning the Apartheid government.

Suffice to say, the young Hector Pieterson's life was not the only to be lost during the Uprising; many were killed.

And that is why today, we not only reflect upon and honour the young from the past - but also the young of today.  Who exactly are the youth of our country?  The National Youth Act of 1996 says, that the youth of South Africa are defined as persons in the age group 14 to 35 years.

I believe the youth of South Africa has a lot to offer, we are young in promise and have grown up in a country young in democracy, basking in all of its glory, the bittersweetness of a past hard to forget and yet, with a yearning of complete solidity in its future.