'To those whose efforts go unseen' - a clarion call from a diaspora social worker
The Clarion Call
What is purpose
when it serves
the interests
of those who despise you,
who look on
with suspicion,
and in quieter ways
move to harm you.
We seek
a life of dignity,
a life carried
through sacrifice,
yet we feel alien
both at home
and in distant lands,
where difference
is turned into a weapon,
and every outcome
feels already decided.
And what is the purpose
of intellect,
of degrees gathered
over years,
when they do not return
prosperity
to the land
of your ancestors,
a land
still waiting.
By whose hand
does change arrive,
when the call to act
goes unfollowed,
when voices,
ancient and present,
speak
and go unheard.
We are told
to rise,
to endure,
to sacrifice again,
but for what,
and for whom,
when the ground beneath us
refuses to hold.
And still
we are expected
to remain,
in places
where dignity is questioned,
where those who claim
to represent all
speak in voices
that do not recognise us.
Where citizenship
does not feel
like belonging,
and acceptance
remains conditional.
So we give more.
We prove more.
We show gratitude
in ways that begin
to erode us,
until the act of proving
becomes its own burden,
until it wears
against the spirit.
And still,
it is not enough.
One begins to ask:
what more is required,
and at what cost.
But the clarion call
grows louder.
It speaks
to those made to feel
unwanted,
undesired,
to those whose efforts
go unseen.
It says:
there is a place
where your humanity
will not be questioned,
where your labour,
your effort,
your presence
will matter.
A place shaped
by your own hands,
by what you build,
not what you are made
to prove.
The clarion call
is not only a demand.
It is also a warning.
To those
whose words
create harm,
who believe
their position
will not shift,
remember:
nothing holds
unchanged.
Empires have fallen.
Systems have ended.
What seemed permanent
has not endured.
The clarion call
is also ubuntu.
when the order turns,
when certainty breaks,
you will find yourselves
seeking what was once denied,
to be welcomed,
to be protected,
and to be met
with the same humanity
you did not extend.
Because the call
is not only for us.
It is for anyone
willing to listen,
anyone who still believes
in something shared,
in a dignity
that does not divide,
in a future
that does not exclude.
To heed the clarion call
is to recognise
that none of us
stand apart from it,
that our humanity
is not separate,
and cannot be made so.
Nick Sithole is a senior social worker in mental health in London with over a decade of experience spanning frontline practice and management