Today is my birthday.
I turn 16.
As I reflect on these years, I realise just how much I have learned. I have made mistakes - many mistakes - but I have also made good choices. Every mistake has shaped me. Every success has strengthened me. Every moment, good or bad, has played a part in the person I am becoming.
But as I sit with this reflection, one thought stands out above all: I am 16.
To many, 16 is just the beginning - a milestone in the journey of growing up. But for others, 16 is a lifetime they will never see.
On February 19, 2025, Niyaaz Smith, a 14-year-old boy, took his own life as a result of bullying.
Fourteen years old. Two years younger than I am today.
Today is my birthday - a day meant for celebration. But how can we celebrate when there are families mourning? How can I celebrate my life, knowing that someone younger than me has lost theirs? How can I look forward when another young person felt that they had no future left to look forward to?
Niyaaz didn’t get to 16. Many don’t.
And that should shake us to our core.
We cannot allow this to keep happening. We cannot keep losing young lives to bullying, to mental health struggles that go unseen, unheard, and unsupported. We cannot turn a blind eye while the most vulnerable among us suffer in silence.
We, the people of South Africa, need to stand together. We need to stand against bullying. We need to stand for each other.
Because silence is not an option. Indifference is not an option. Waiting for someone else to fix the problem is not an option.
Change begins with us.
It begins with how we speak to one another. With how we listen to those who are struggling. With how we create safe spaces in our schools, our communities, our country. It begins with choosing kindness, with choosing to be the person who stands up instead of looking away.
And most of all, it begins with understanding that one life lost is one too many.
Rest in Power, Niyaaz Smith.
Your name will not be forgotten. Your story will not be ignored. May your loss remind us all of the responsibility we carry - to protect, uplift, and look out for one another.
Because no one should ever feel that their only way out is to leave this world behind.
Rise By Lifting Others
Silence is not an option.
To many, this is just the beginning. But for others, this is a lifetime they will never see.
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