The municipality gave me a lifeline, but not yet financial freedom.
The stipend was not enough to solve the problem that had prevented me from applying for internships and entry-level positions in the first place.
Then, towards the end of the year or early the following year, I received another phone call.
It was the lecturer who had previously encouraged me to register for a Master’s degree at the university he was moving to.
I was surprised that he had remembered me.
I had told him that I would take a year to save money and register the following year.
Now that year had arrived.
But I had saved nothing.
“You, Lidzhegu,” he asked, calling me by my surname, “are you saying you don’t want to do Master’s?”
I paused.
I recalled that I had made a promise.
So I responded and said I wanted to register.
He gave me the necessary information and instructions.
Once again, there was a familiar problem.
Registration money.
At around the same time, my friend from Tshikhudini and I had applied for GIS internships advertised in another province.
We were both invited for interviews.
My friend said:
“Let’s go,”
I said I wasn’t going.
My reasoning was simple.
Our stipend was not enough to pay for transport, accommodation before the interview, and all the expenses that would follow if I actually got the job.
We were also using part of our stipends for driving lessons. We were working towards obtaining our driver’s licences, which we eventually did.
My friend understood all of this.
He had the same problem.
But he was going anyway.
I stayed behind.
On the day of the interview, I tried calling him before the interview to wish him luck. His phone was unreachable.
I tried again afterwards.
Still unreachable.
I only discovered what had happened when I saw him on the next working day.
He told me that he had not had enough money for accommodation the night before the interview. He had slept at a police station, on a bench around the reception or service area.
When he woke up, his belongings were gone, including his phone.
Fortunately, he still managed to get to the interview and, most importantly, make his way home.
Now he needed another phone.
He wanted to buy one and insure it. One way of doing that was to take the phone on a retail store account, but he did not have a store account and did not want one.
I had a store account.
He had cash.
And I needed cash for my Master’s registration.
The amount he had available for the phone was enough to cover my registration.
So we came up with a simple arrangement. He gave me the cash. We bought the phone using my store account and took out the insurance. He would pay the insurance while I paid off the account.
It solved both our immediate problems.
What still fascinates me when I look back is how this opportunity came about. My friend had travelled to an interview that I had decided I could not afford to attend. Things went badly for him, yet the problem that followed unexpectedly created a solution to a completely different problem in my life.
His misfortune had become my lifeline.
I had the registration money.
Now I could finally register for my Master’s.
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Have you ever experienced a situation where an unexpected problem created an opportunity that neither person involved could have planned?
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