She leans over her book shelve in front of a wall filled with posters of every young and handsome celebrity guy you can think of dressed in a short jean mini skirt and a pink sassy top. She smiles and looks at me with her big eyes, “So, you want to know about me and my ways of living?” she asks. She has never had some approach her and ask her to tell them about her untamed life in university. This is a story she has always been eager to tell someone for months.
Sivuyisiwe Brigette Ngcaba grew up in the big city of Johannesburg, and for years she has never been faced with the need to work for any thing. In high school all she did were the things her friends would do; never did anything that seemed to be out of the ordinary. This all was to gain the approval of her friends and every one around her. Sivuyisiwe grew up living with her mother, but occasionally visited her father in Pretoria. “My mother was very strict on me, the only time you would see me out with friends would be at the mall or a day time party which had parents around.” she says with an attitude of someone who really does not care. “In my high school years I have never had the opportunity to smell freedom,” at home or at school; having to please every one every where she went.
Her first encounter with Rhodes University, she explains with so much excitement in her voice and a lit up face. She comes closer and jumps onto the bed, where I was seated as if she was about to tell me news that she has been dying to tell someone in a very long time but was suppressed from telling anyone. “A BLAST OF FREEDOM” that is how she explains her first week in Grahamstown; “It was something I had never experienced in my life before,” she says. Except for the freedom, Sivuyisiwe was still the same girl she was back in high school; she still did things to gain the approval of friends. But the only difference now is that she started to party a lot and drink excessively. She said this affected her academic performance causing her to fail a couple of her subjects. This was not only a weakness but also a habit she felt she needed to change. It took a great deal of time, a full term, till she discovered a book called The Secret. This book helped her realize that “All power is from within and therefore under our control,” (Robert Collier). This is when she decided she was going to live for herself and no one else, and realized that this is all going to need a lot of discipline.
With the combination of independence Sivuyisiwe started making the most of her every day life count. She was the life of every party she attended; and by just being herself, she made a lot of friends. “Rhodes helped me discover my capabilities and this helped me survive the torture of being some one who is dull and boring” she said with a lot of enthusiasm. Sivuyisiwe is now one of the most spoken about first year students in Rhodes University, not every thing they say about her is good yet she lives her life with so much charm and cheerfulness; also doing well academically.
