Post 14: A Plan Built on Hours We Had Not Yet Worked

Continuing with Honours was within my control. Paying for it was not.

The scholarship that had supported my undergraduate studies did not extend to postgraduate study. Registration for honours was also expensive.

But I was not alone now.

I had a friend from university who was also a village boy, from a distant village called Tshaulu. Let us call him the first friend.

His circumstances were similar to mine, but he was optimistic.

He said, “Look, man, our situations are similar, but we can do this.”

His plan was the university’s work-study programme.

We could work by invigilating undergraduate examinations and tests and assisting with marking scripts. We would record the hours we worked; those hours would be approved, and the programme would contribute towards our tuition fees.

That sounded like a plan.

Then I noticed the obvious problem.

Work-study could assist with tuition, but first we had to be registered.

Where would the registration money come from?

My friend did not have the money for registration either.

Then we remembered another possibility. The Student Representative Council (SRC) had a funding structure through which students could receive assistance with registration. The understanding was that the money would have to be repaid before results could eventually be released.

Suddenly, everything seemed connected.

SRC assistance would allow us to register.

Registration would allow us to participate in work-study.

Work-study would help cover tuition.

We would invigilate and mark scripts, accumulating the required hours while completing Honours.

It was not exactly financial security.

It was a plan built largely on work that we had not even performed yet.

But it was a plan.

We applied through the SRC, registered and started Honours.

Things went according to plan. We marked scripts. We invigilated. We attended classes. Eventually, we completed our examinations and submitted our mini-theses.

Then we went our separate ways.

Academically, the plan had worked.

But the SRC debt remained.

My results were withheld, and graduation was approaching.

Once again, I had done what was within my control.

Once again, money stood between effort and its reward.

Perhaps our plan had worked.

Perhaps for me, it had only carried the problem further down the road.

Join the conversation

When limited resources force people to construct plans from one uncertain opportunity to another, at what point does planning end and faith in the next opportunity begin?