Bliss Sibiya

My name is Bliss Sibiya and I am 23 years old. I am the leader of the X-Factored Youth and a product of the X-Factored 101 programme. The X-Factored 101 programme is run under the Life Lessons Development Institute in Durban. I am a business graduate, dancer, poet, MC, writer and author of a booked titled Black Body Jewish Mind.

I was blessed with the opportunity to be part of an exchange programme through the South African German Exchange Network also known as SAGE Net. Through SAGE Net, I was able to go to Germany and gather as much insight as possible with the intention to document what I have learnt and feed that insight back into South African society. My insight was gathered across social, political and economic spheres to retrieve an overall synopsis of Germany and how it operates not only within the European Union, but in the global spectrum. I also wanted to immerse myself within German society and hear from the German youth population and the African diaspora how they felt about Germany.

Coming back home, I could contrast between Germany and South Africa and identify what can be done for my home country, what should be done, and how it could possibly be achieved. I learnt a lot about the two worlds and I would encourage the youth to take the challenge and gather insight in as many places as they can regardless of the language barrier.

I live by the saying “The future of any country is dependent on its youth” therefore as a member of a youthful society I wish to ensure that my fellow youth have the resources needed to determine how we wish to build our country. Through blueprints gathered by exchange volunteers such as myself, we may extract the insight that they bring to create our own blueprint customized for South Africa, and eventually the African continent.

Every Monday at 20:30 I speak at a local radio show called On The Flip Side with Ntokozo Tshapa on Vibe FM. In the show, I speak about youth topics that concern us now and in the future. I also speak about possible ways to leave legacies for ourselves by contributing to our communities in best way that we can.

As part of the X-Factored Youth, our pillars are Excellence, Exceptionality, Extraordinariness, Exceeding Expectations and Expertise. These pillars guide my path in the pursuit to excellence in contribution.