Reader, this invitation to share my thoughts and experiences with you all in good cause to lift each other up is not a light task. You and I are born into different circumstances, your challenges are different from mine, what came easy to you might have come at a great cost to me and the opposite is true. To the best of my ability, I will give you a glimpse of my personal experience, what motivates me and what makes me the hero of my story which I continue to write this day. May you make your story in your way, with courage, perseverance, and passion.
I was born in KoBulawayo, Zimbabwe into a black middle-class family, which unfortunately was not so middle class after the obvious situation that befell my home country. Father, an architectural-draftsman, now architect and structural engineer migrated to South Africa to seek a better future, not so long after my mother, a primary teacher by training did the same.
My parent’s sacrifice to live so far from me and my siblings meant they could afford enough for me to enroll in a private school. This meant I stood a better chance to succeed in attaining an education which a typical public school could not provide. I successfully completed my high school education, thereafter I followed my parents to South Africa. I enrolled at the University of South Africa (UNISA) for my Bachelor of Laws degree to continue my education.
UNISA was not my first choice, but it provided a better alternative given the high cost of fees for tertiary education. After much protestation and sulking about its “unsuitableness” for a law education to my father, I eventually accepted it as an opportunity to succeed. Soon I discovered that because it is a distance learning institution, it does not mean it is less suitable compared to other universities that I hoped to study with initially. Eventually, it all comes down to you and your desire to cultivate
At UNISA I learned how to have self-discipline, perseverance, and initiative. You do not have a lecturer that explains the law to you, you are given a tutorial letter, study guide, and textbook (which you buy yourself). The three are what you rely on to get good marks. If you fail to push yourself to have a consistent study schedule and keeping at bay distractions, unfortunately, hell has no fury like an exam not studied for, your chances of success will be slim. Time is scarce and unrenewable as my father would always say, you must make the best out of the 24 hours in a day so that you can look back in a year and be content with the progress you have made. At UNISA this translates into having to complete ten modules a year for a law degree in order to finish in a record time of four years. Fortunately, I did this with the grace of God in-between.
Today I have a law degree, it took some grit to get it, believe me, there were setbacks on the side-lines and in-between, but I do not think
Dominee Bhekisipho Ndlovu 😉
Proudly UNISA Law Graduate
19 February 2019