During the visit from Lord Peter Hain at Kingswood College, our Pupil Leaders from Kingswood and other schools around Makhanda had a meeting of minds…

In the two days after the Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture at which Lord Peter Hain was our 2023 Guest Speaker, Lord Hain engaged with our pupils and staff in a variety of different settings and organised events over two days.

One of these events was a lunch with our Head Prefects and their counterparts from other Makhanda schools at the conclusion of the Neil Aggett Lecture. This was a very special occasion, which facilitated a more informal conversation between our young leaders and Lord Hain.

This event provided those in attendance with an opportunity to ask the questions they wanted to ask on a more one-on-one basis and to discuss various topics from leadership, to making a difference where you find yourself, and even on current affairs.

We asked our Head and Deputy Head Prefects to send us a short write-up on their experience and here is what they had to say:

“It was an amazing opportunity to speak to someone with so much life experience and knowledge and his openness to sharing his life story makes one realise that he is just like any one of us, and that we too have the opportunity to make a difference.” – Amy Hobson (Headgirl)

“What an incredible experience being able to have lunch with Lord Peter Hain! The amount of knowledge and experience Lord Peter Hain has is absolutely mind blowing. One of the things I took away from our lunch with him was the idea of follow-ship vs leadership. The difference between the two being that follow-ship is someone who says what everyone wants to hear, while showing leadership is a person who says what everyone needs to hear.” – Matthew Collett (Deputy Headboy)

“It was a great honour to meet and have lunch with Lord Peter Hain. In the short amount of time we spent with him talking about his journey and him answering questions that we had, I took away many inspiring pieces of advice as well as leadership tools that I will be implementing into my own leadership growth from now on. He truly is an inspiration.” – Pendi Nyonyozi (Deputy Headgirl)

“The lunch with Lord Hain made it clear that if we want to bring about seismic change in our nation we all need to do our small part. Everyone working towards a common goal together is only possible if everyone does his or her part. Do not underestimate the power that even the smallest action can have. Meeting Lord Hain was a privilege and anyone who crosses his path can learn a great deal from him.” – Azolile Mbanga (Headboy)

We thank Lord Hain for giving of his valuable time to these future leaders and we know that a great deal of knowledge and ideas were exchanged at this special meeting of minds.