It’s Freedom Day and on this day 23 years ago, I would be yawning right about now and waiting for my dad to close the shop.

I was aware that something big was happening and that everyone was allowed to go vote in the community hall down the road from the shop. I didn’t really understand what voting meant but my father told me only adults were allowed to go and that I should stay in the shop. So we worked. It was a Wednesday and I was so happy that we didn’t have to go to school. The line streaming out of the community center reached our shop doors at one stage. It was a busy day.

Can you remember what you were doing on 27 April, 1994?

President Cyril Ramaphosa so aptly put it in his Freedom Day address today that although we are all braving Covid-19, we have not been impacted in the same way.

The abject poverty and inequality that still defines South African society is clear. I am enduring the lockdown in the comfort of my spacious double-story, groceries line my shelves, I have uncapped WiFi and I have access to private healthcare. At the same time I am acutely aware that there are millions out there who are in pain. Who are struggling. There are millions of breadwinners and families battling to put food on the table. Some children are going to bed hungry and waking up hungry.

Ramaphosa says, “The true lessons of this experience will not just be about the necessity of social distancing, proper hand washing and infection control.

“In this new society, the privileged cannot afford to close their eyes to the plight of the poor and sleep peacefully at night. This is the time when we should actively work to build a fair and just country. In the South Africa that we all want, no man, woman or child will go hungry, because they will have the means to earn an income, and our social assistance programmes will be matched by efforts to enable communities to grow their own food.

“Let us also stand united against poverty, inequality and hunger. We can only overcome this crisis and rebuild our shattered economy if we work together. Let the good that has come from this experience – of collective action and unity of purpose – continue.

“Let the generosity of spirit endure. We owe it to the memories of those who came before us to live the values they cherished, of empathy, compassion and solidarity. As we are reminded this Freedom Day, we have known far worse and we have prevailed.”

FREEDOM (NOUN)

Freedom is Christ.

Freedom is human dignity.

Freedom is acceptance.

Freedom is tolerance in all forms.

Freedom is equality.

Freedom is peace.

But above all, freedom is love.

What does freedom mean to you?