Sometimes being away from home in first year is like going for your drivers licence. You know you have to be there to get your licence, and you really do want that licence, and you know there are fun times ahead… but at the same time you really wish you could be somewhere else. Now imagine your home is a two day bus trip away, in a country whose political, social and economical instability has been making headlines around the world. And, of course, whose president is slightly cooked in the head.Meet Sarah Aldridge, one of many Zimbabwean students at Rhodes University. Hailing from the small town of Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West province, one would expect the move to Rhodes to have been a rather stressful one. But Sarah, with her calm and collected nature, took it all in her stride. “It wasn’t much of a culture shock coming here. We (Zimbabwe) were like this once upon a time.” She admits that she is quite fortunate to have family in South Africa. “It’s quite rough if you don’t know anyone in South Africa.” She pauses before adding with a mischievous grin, ‘Make sure you make friends with people who live outside of Grahamstown.”
Even though she found the South African girls generally “more liberal” and open in the things that they talked about, the people in res really helped with settling in. “My res was very welcoming and friendly. Being away from home wasn’t too bad because of the people here.” She says that although it depends on the person, she isn’t lonely at all. Even as we sit talking, she greets person after person who walks by. “There’s always someone around.” After about the tenth person she giggles. “See what I mean?”
Behind the strong façade of course there is always a side that misses home. “I really, really miss not going home and stroking my cat and seeing my mutt. You can’t just go and lie on the couch or sit at the kitchen table and talk to your parents.” Luckily Sarah's family has not been too badly affected by the turmoil that is taking place in Zimbabwe, but she still worries at times. With people leaving the country all the time and with hardly any warning, she sometimes wonders if she will ever see her friends and people she knows again. “(When I left for university), I wasn’t sure I was ever going to go back.”
There are things she still hasn’t adjusted to, including the cold weather and of course, the bane of every student’s life – assignments. “This work everyday is a pain in the butt.” And although she admits she is generalizing, she feels South Africans can be a bit on the unfriendly side. “Back home the tellers at the shops know my name. We have good chats,” she remarks.
So how does Sarah cope when she's missing life in Chinhoyi? “Chocolate donuts at the Blockhouse!” she bursts out into giggles. And besides lots of e-mails home and burying herself in her work, “you just kind of get on with it, really.” It is this outlook on life that has enabled Sarah to make the most of this year. For someone who could have so much to complain about, she seems almost bemused that people would make such a big deal about her coming from Zimbabwe. To her, she’s just a student, who happens to be from Zimbabwe, getting by like everyone else.
