totally funny

You probably don’t have a truworths account yet but you probably will within the first three months of being @ varsity….enjoy
LETTER TO TRUWORTHS IN JOHANNESBURG THE ENDING IS JUST MAGIC.
Dear Sir/Madam
I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7 July 2008 in which for the 3rd time, you request that I pay the monies owed to you. I first want you to know that by no means do I dispute my debt and I intend to pay as soon as possible.
However I would like to bring to your attention that you are not my only creditor. I have many more creditors,quite as honourable and important as you, and whom I wish to pay too. That is why, each month, I throw all the names of my creditors into a hat and draw one randomly. The one drawn is paid immediately.
I hope that yours will come out shortly.
Sincerely Yours,Sipho
PS: I regret to inform you that given the harsh and threatening tone of your last letter, you will not be taking part in the next three draws.

Mathematics

Just saying the word ‘mathematics’ to people brings forth a multitude of reactions. In many cases, it’s memories of the emotional trauma caused by high school algebra and trigonometry which produces jolt instantly. Those born with the natural talent of using their right side of the brain, a talent for the subject, remember it as the easy part of university entrance exams. Among these, are the rare few who find themselves seduced by the beauty of the subject. To them, mathematics is a language which helps unfold complex predicaments. One of these people is Amandla Ndlovu who beams when greeted. A huge smile spreads across his face and his eyes twinkle. It quickly becomes clear that he has another talent, connecting with people.
The first year BComm student describes in detail that these problems they solve might be exceptionally difficult, but nothing beats the feeling you get when finding an answer says Amandla. It becomes clear that maths is not just a subject to him; it seems to correspond to real life situations and other disciplines of education like physics. And as much as he enjoys unearthing math course work, mathematics has helped find solutions in his life.

Amndla lost his father mid-April this year, putting his family is serious financial turmoil. The 19 year old was faced with two consequential options. Continue to study and bare wrecking thoughts of his family waking up to isonka sombakho (steam bread) and reused teabag tea for breakfast. Thoughts of his family sleeping on empty stomachs for most nights, because his house-wife mother had to settle his tuition fees and provide him with pocket money. ‘I had to drop out; it wasn’t an option to let my family suffer for me, I had planned to find a piece job, so that I could endow my widow mother and siblings.’
A dreading shame to have such talent wasted due to matters beyond his control, the unknown cause of death of his father.

It was whilst shopping for the cheaper branded toiletries, ‘no name’ that he overheard St Andrews matriculates complain about the difficulty of math and physics. It was then that Amandla got an idea, to find work and earn something. He ran to the Jacaranda Computer Labs, to print out his CV and type a brief motivation for why he thought he would make a great tutor. Missing his last lecture on that day, he went to the high school to drop off the requesting CV. ‘I didn’t mention my father’s death, or my family’s capital problems.’ Amandla felt he’d get the job solely on merit. It was a week later that he got a call from the high school, asking him to come for an interview. He signed a two year contract to tutor grade 11 and 12 math learners.

Earning R3 500 a month, Amandla is able to send money home and purchase tuck and toiletries for himself. ‘It is important to give attention to your interests, for you to desire, so that you can take action, to become bigger than you think you are,’ he says, with that broad smile that made me approach him. This life changing year is almost over for Amandla Ndlovu, but the lessons his learnt about life he says have made him a stronger, more capable individual. I’m a survivor’ he says, and instead of me thanking him for his time, he shakes my hand and thanks me for listening. ‘I’m hoping that other first year students will learn from my story.’

Just Get On With It

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.

The story of a young man that finds himself through writing

Isn’t it funny how you see someone and automatically make an assumption that they are a particular kind of person and when starting to converse with the person you realize that they actually quite interesting? And isn’t it funnier how you make that mistake over and over again? Well if you have made such a mistake (which you most probably have), about a thousand times in your life, then don’t worry because it happens to all of us.

While sitting at the library basement waiting for Monde Mdodana, I had a lot of things going through my mind; such as; I wonder what this dagga smoking, fake version of Bob Marley is going to say about his first year at Rhodes. You might be thinking that’s a bit naive of me to think of someone in that way but when you see a young man with long dread locks, wearing a Bantu Stephen Biko T-shirt with torn pants and carryng a bag with Rastafarian that’s got a picture of Bob Marley painted on it. You usually make that assumption about that person.

Monde, the eldest of three kids was born in the small town of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. “My mother was a Christian but I hated going to church, not to say that I’m a Satanist, it’s just that I belief in finding my God through writing”, he says. In growing up, Monde says that he’s always been someone who was very anti-social, “To be honest, I’ve never liked being surrounded by people; I’ve always enjoyed my own company”. During his Matric year, he would always just focus on his writing, because that’s where he found himself. “Through writing a poem or short story, I believe that I am communicating with my God” he says.

He explains his first year at Rhodes dull, seeing that the work is so much and he doesn’t have that much time to focus on his writing. “For me the year had no real defining moment as a first year student, though being here has given me room for growth”. The one thing that he describes as totally fantastic was when he sold out all his copies to his short story booklet during the June vacation. “That was really awesome, I didn’t expect such a good responds from people and to my surprise people really loved my writing”. He says that that inspired him to write more, in fact his never been in such a good place in his life.He finds his inspiration from any and every one. He believes that everyone has a story that is worth being written about and we all have the gift to write that story.

Amongst the stories his written, is one called the English note, he describes the story as a little autobiographical, as he was writing about how he sees himself in the character portrayed in the story.“See, we all change from character to character to suit what society wants us be”, he continues by saying, when coming to varsity, you switch from the character of a typical naive high school learner to a totally different character that you believe will make you cooler when being at varsity.

To Monde, the year has enabled him to grow as a writer and as an individual, because to him writing his writing is what defines him.

Mondes’ book of short stories is called Marxism, Marijuana and literature.










Source list: Monde Mdodana 1st year Bachelor of Social Science student Contact Details: Tell: 0782018754 Email address: phicon Mdodana" <mphicon@gmail.com>

my perfect man

John Legend...This is my perferct man and yes I know that I'll probably never meet him but that's what things such as your perfect man are made for. The fact of the matter is that in life you will almost never meet your perfect man espacially not at varsity, the type of guy you are most likely to meet while studyng, is the type that's dating you either because they've never had a girlfriend while they were at high school and now the are taking advantage of all the naive first year students that just arrived. Perhaps you'll meet the one that's dating you just beccause they want a hot young girl next to him so he can how off to his friends about you....but lets not forget that there are those that come close to John Legend andmaybe you'll be lucky enough to find someoen that managed to stay true to them selves and refused to have all the pressures of being at varsity change who they really are....good luck finding such a guy.

who says man can't multitask?

Letter to you prospective first year...

Dear friend
Of course you know that the definition of university has a definite connotation of a solid social life. I mean, what is varsity without the famous or maybe notorious side of private life? In fact, one key aspect when you think first year is probably ‘having your own place’. I know I’m speaking your language! Residence life is full of exciting things that will make your first year at varsity worth while and a survival. Don’t need you to make your grades suffer now, just because you are not at home. So for now, make yourself at home, while I take you on a journey of what you can look forward to living in ‘res’:
Remember you are new, and might not know a single soul. Well, it would be wise to find someone, in fact the more the merrier, so make a bunch of friends to hold your hand and trust me, things will seem ten times better plus, you will be making memories. And where else to find these people but in res. So see, res is convenient for making friends. Plus, with the fun-filled functions, which better way to mingle? You also easily find people doing the same course as you, and that means you guys can work together while you are still trying to get the hang of things. Only exclusive to res, is guidance from the house warden and sub-wardens. They don’t play the role of watchdogs, so don’t worry, freedom is still at the centre of things. There is no curfew! And it gets better, you choose from a menu with a wide variety what you want to eat, which means, no such a responsibility as cooking! Yey!
Before the excitement explodes, let me bring you back. All good, res-life is great. For the right reasons, right… When balancing the pros and cons, take it from me, you want to be in res. Its an experience you owe to youself. You need to find your feet first, then only second year I guess you can spread your wings!
Sincerely
Mathilda