There’s a point in every journey where reality humbles you. You step into something new — a skill, a practice, a calling — and suddenly you’re back at the beginning. That’s where I found myself recently, standing in my garden, camera in hand, trying to make my first proper video for YouTube.
I’ve used mobile phones for years. Convenience. Auto settings. Hit record and go. But now, with a “real” camera (Canon M50 Mark II), it’s like I’ve been handed a musical instrument I don’t know how to play.
The camera doesn’t see Ramasedi (the Sun) the way my eyes do. What looks like perfect morning light to me becomes an overexposed mess through the lens. Shadows fall wrong. Faces bleach out. And even something as natural as standing in the sunlight becomes a technical challenge.
This is where most people give up.
When things get tougher — not easier — the more you learn. The deeper you go, the more you see how little you actually know.
And that’s exactly why I believe that using AI (like ChatGPT) in the right way can transform how we, as Africans and as humans, approach knowledge.
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know — Until We Need to Know It
I had no reason to understand what “White Balance” or “Aperture” meant — until I needed to speak light to a camera. Suddenly, I needed to know. And the knowledge was there, available, waiting for the right question.
This is the power of Large Language Models.
Unlike Google or YouTube, which often assume a base level of technical understanding, an LLM can be asked:
“What is aperture?”
“Why is my video too white in the sun?”
“How do I make it look like what my eyes see?”
And it answers. Without judgment. Without waiting. Without expecting fluency in tech language.
This is the future of African learning:
Not just free access to information, but access to teachers who don’t sleep. Who don’t laugh at “stupid” questions. Who allow us to walk our own pace in our own language.
I Could Ask for Help. But It Will Cost My Peace.
I could pay someone to do the video setup for me. Maybe even get great results.
But the price would be my own growth. My own peace.
There’s something sacred in struggling to learn something that matters to you. It’s frustrating — yes. But it’s honest. And every breakthrough belongs to you. No one can take it away.
So, I choose to wrestle with ND filters. To sit in the morning light, fumble with my camera settings, and practice looking into the lens like I’m speaking to my ancestors. I choose to cultivate peace between the moments of frustration.
Because this is what growth looks like:
Not instant results, but gradual revelation.
Not dependency, but deepening awareness.
This Is the Era of Prompted Learning
We live in interesting times. The mind is unlimited — but it needs to be grounded in the soil of reality. We learn because the need has arrived. Not earlier. Not later. Now.
And when the need arrives, we don’t wait for permission.
We don’t wait for the “perfect teacher.”
We ask the question, and the journey begins.
“Ramasedi never hides the truth. Neither should we.
When the time arrives, we learn. We fumble. We show up.
Because there is peace on the other side of knowing what you didn’t know.”
— Bra Peter