Curiosity is exploration

Curiosity is exploration

Growing up, I loved reading and I loved adventure. Two of the fundamental things that I loved were not easily accessible to me. However, reading was the easier of the two. And so, every 3 weeks my mother would walk us to the nearest library. Growing up in Beacon Valley, Mitchells Plain, I never questioned why each area (Beacon Valley, Tafelsig, Lentegeur), didn’t have its own library dedicated to that area of Mitchells Plain given the density of the population living there. This is one of the many ways Apartheid and its evil principles are still kept very much alive on the Cape Flats.

My mother, who was deeply committed to helping her children see and appreciate reading, would walk us to the library. To this day, we still joke about how she would listen to us read and then say “read with expression”. She simply wouldn’t tolerate the monotone style of reading. She wanted you to become immersed in the story and she wanted to hear the expression in your voice. None of the “let’s just do this and get it out of the way” manner was allowed. My father also loved reading. I always saw him read and he would often give us spelling tests at home.

Back to my library story. I was always excited to visit the library. Not because it was fancy, because it wasn’t. Not because it was close, because it certainly wasn’t.

I visited the library because books contained a magical experience. I could open a book and go on the adventures which I so deeply yearned for. At the end of the book, I would be disappointed that my travels and adventures were over. But I knew that it was just a matter of time before I’d pack my suitcase again and get lost in another magical story.

My curiosity and interest gave me this beautiful gift.

I could be transported to wherever I yearned to go. My current situation with its clear limitations, were never an issue. Physically I was standing in Mitchells Plain but mentally I was part of an Enid Blyton adventure tale.

All I needed was to yearn, to want to know, to explore, to turn the cover. And boom – I was gone. And I’d always return with many rich stories to tell.

This is my personal story. This is one of the reasons I love curiosity and will always advocate for curiosity through the work I do.

Curiosity enables.  Curiosity inspires.  Curiosity motivates.

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