{"id":1931,"date":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2024-04-21T13:11:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T12:11:58","slug":"lesego-is-his-name-e8f9490a1c3d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/?p=1931","title":{"rendered":"Lesego is his\u00a0name"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\n      * {\n        font-family: Georgia, Cambria, \"Times New Roman\", Times, serif;\n      }\n      html, body {\n        margin: 0;\n        padding: 0;\n      }\n      h1 {\n        font-size: 50px;\n        margin-bottom: 17px;\n        color: #333;\n      }\n      h2 {\n        font-size: 24px;\n        line-height: 1.6;\n        margin: 30px 0 0 0;\n        margin-bottom: 18px;\n        margin-top: 33px;\n        color: #333;\n      }\n      h3 {\n        font-size: 30px;\n        margin: 10px 0 20px 0;\n        color: #333;\n      }\n      header {\n        width: 640px;\n        margin: auto;\n      }\n      section {\n        width: 640px;\n        margin: auto;\n      }\n      section p {\n        margin-bottom: 27px;\n        font-size: 20px;\n        line-height: 1.6;\n        color: #333;\n      }\n      section img {\n        max-width: 640px;\n      }\n      footer {\n        padding: 0 20px;\n        margin: 50px 0;\n        text-align: center;\n        font-size: 12px;\n      }\n      .aspectRatioPlaceholder {\n        max-width: auto !important;\n        max-height: auto !important;\n      }\n      .aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill {\n        padding-bottom: 0 !important;\n      }\n      header,\n      section[data-field=subtitle],\n      section[data-field=description] {\n        display: none;\n      }\n      <\/style>\n<article class=\"h-entry\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"p-name\">Lesego is his name<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"p-summary\" data-field=\"subtitle\">Little Tabo started walking, and he is growing up so fast. I have been away the last 4 Months. Zanele, my wife, is looking after the\u2026<\/section>\n<section class=\"e-content\" data-field=\"body\">\n<section class=\"section section--body section--first\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<h3 id=\"6075\" class=\"graf graf--h3 graf--leading graf--title\">Lesego is his\u00a0name<\/h3>\n<p id=\"8ffc\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3\">Little Tabo started walking, and he is growing up so fast. I have been away the last 4 Months. Zanele, my wife, is looking after the smallholding, no running water and electricity it\u2019s no easy task. Thank god she\u2019s a strong woman, and with the help of my mom, she\u2019s taking care of things back home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"e280\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf-after--p\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"graf-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/800\/1*t4pXUCimDGowR6LYMeca_A.jpeg\" data-image-id=\"1*t4pXUCimDGowR6LYMeca_A.jpeg\" data-width=\"634\" data-height=\"401\" \/><figcaption class=\"imageCaption\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--figure-anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/wires\/ap\/article-2597106\/At-South-African-long-long-way-down.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/wires\/ap\/article-2597106\/At-South-African-long-long-way-down.html\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--figure-strong\">(AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe)<\/strong><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"86db\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">We\u2019re behind on rent, and I had to do a lot of overtime this week. I\u2019m tired, and I\u2019m back on shift soon. It\u2019s hard, but I\u2019m one of the lucky ones. I have a job and a room here in the hostel. Joseph, who\u2019s also from my village, is renting a one-room shack down the road.<\/p>\n<p id=\"dea6\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">They have forgotten about us. It was from these very hostels that we changed a country. We defeated the apartheid government. Freedom.<\/p>\n<p id=\"a8cb\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">And now. We replaced one \u2018Baas\u2019 [Slang for Boss] with another one. The rich mine bosses. We never see them. They don\u2019t care. They try and confuse us with their tricks. We have to fight all the time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ec38\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing\"><em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">My name is Lesego Kotane; I\u2019m a South African mine worker, a human being. This is my worldview, my reality.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<p id=\"3e74\" class=\"graf graf--p graf--leading\">The story of Lesego, and many like this where woven together to form the narrative of a specific digital project in my past. The positive response to the story touched me when I recalled it recently.<\/p>\n<p id=\"3893\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">It was in that reaction that the digital blinders fell from my eyes reconnecting me with my humanity. I recall the silly tagline used for the project, \u201cMy name is Lesego, not employee #AB164890.\u201d How dehumanising is it, to be denied your name? The gift unasked for but received a long time ago, which carries so much weight. Lesego. Andrzej. Jonathan. Aga. Roman. Marta. Werner. Thomas. Rachel.<\/p>\n<p id=\"e123\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">To be stripped of your name. A weapon, pushed to it\u2019s most dehumanising extreme as a numbered tattoo on a forearm. Today, a remnant of the industrial age, favouring dispensable anonymous cogs that keeps corporate production lines running.<\/p>\n<p id=\"8f64\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The rebirth. Starting with a foolish misspelt scribble on a Starbuck\u2019s coffee-cup, a birthday card, a book signed by a friend. A simple act that restores \u2018me\u2019. Powerful tokens. Opening the floodgates of what makes \u2018me\u2019 unique, my experiences, history, achievements, emotions and stories.<\/p>\n<p id=\"73fe\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">To be recognised. Recognition, beyond hot air passing over disingenuous vocal cords. True acknowledgement that we exist.<\/p>\n<p id=\"81f6\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">One of my worst personality traits is that I forget names. It is a source of deep embarrassment, because how much could I value this person\u2019s humanity if I can\u2019t even remember her name?<\/p>\n<p id=\"f6fa\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing\">A noble challenge. What will you do to restore someone else\u2019s name today?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body section--last\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<figure id=\"60d5\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--leading graf--trailing\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"graf-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/800\/1*AuPDg-Xs9sUmYUzm-v06gQ.png\" data-image-id=\"1*AuPDg-Xs9sUmYUzm-v06gQ.png\" data-width=\"2479\" data-height=\"1300\" \/><figcaption class=\"imageCaption\">Sketchnotes related to this topic: Customers have names too. It\u2019s time we started really using\u00a0them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<footer>By <a class=\"p-author h-card\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@werner.puchert\">Werner Puchert<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/p\/e8f9490a1c3d\"><time class=\"dt-published\" datetime=\"2018-05-07T21:41:54.176Z\">May 7, 2018<\/time><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"p-canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@werner.puchert\/lesego-is-his-name-e8f9490a1c3d\">Canonical link<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Exported from <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\">Medium<\/a> on April 19, 2024.<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lesego is his name Little Tabo started walking, and he is growing up so fast. I have been away the last 4 Months. Zanele, my wife, is looking after the\u2026 Lesego is his\u00a0name Little Tabo started walking, and he is growing up so fast. I have been away the last 4 Months. Zanele, my wife,[&#8230;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medium"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xperience.consulting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}