I once over heard a group of pupils having a very interesting discussion and, as I got closer to them to hear what is it that they were talking about, to my surprise, I found out that these pupils were talking about the fear that comes with having to complete their studies these days. I heard one of them say, it is no longer a “thing” to complete one’s studies.
The excitement isn’t there anymore, “I wish school years could be extended,” he said.
Off of sudden interest I asked why, because in my experience, “at their age, completing one’s studies is the best thing; even referenced my high school days when I finished high school – talking about how we would have a school dance as a farewell party for the class of that year – a fun ushering into the real world.
Talking about the excitement that came with having to register for college or university, the freedom of expressing one’s persona and being exposed to a variety of advantages and opportunities going forward.
The answer I got from a very quiet pupil in the group was, “we are the new generation a.k.a Ma-two thousand generation. We didn’t have to carry any generational curse whatsoever so we don’t really understand the glory of completing our studies early. We have never suffered not completing them early, challenges from that fear were never ours, and they belong to them – the people that raised us – who then imposed their struggles on each and every one of us by virtue of being the generation that came before us.
We are born and raised in a developing country, populated by developing minds of young and old people. Now what this means is that everything is new to everyone.
Everyone who has undergone some form of struggle, whether it be political, social, environmental, technological, economical and personal. But my point still stands, everything is new to everyone. Even those struggle are new regardless of being ‘almost alike.’
See this, my friends from Motimposo display different behavior than that of those that come from Masowe or Hathetsane. And these are the people we meet both in our social spaces and at the different schools we all go to. The difference in behavior is mellowed down bty the common denominator being school. Imagine what it would be like if we never had school, then met in a different social setting. Without a second thought you would know who is from where by their behavior. You would know if I was going to survive a certain area or situation or not based on where I come from and the social spaces I frequent. So now I complete school and there’s a new crowd from that other place… what happens?
The risk that comes with growing up in a developing country, this Lesotho that we love so dearly, is far worse than having to go to school for an extra two or three years which in our opinion is more safer than these hostile and sometimes not so hostile communities that we come from.
Like I say, everything is new to everyone, even the lifestyles in our societies change when our communities develop. On the surface it looks like we are becoming a better community but to tell the truth we are a hundred years far from that. We came to realize that the reason the generation before us, got so excited when they finished school it was not even about the excitement that came with having to register for college or university, the freedom of having to express one’s persona and being exposed to a lot of advantages and opportunities, no.
Being the offspring’s of those who were oppressed by a system that was used to oppress a lot of nations in Africa mostly, we then come to the conclusion that it wasn’t what you say it was, no. it wasn’t about being proud that having completed school meant a better life no. It was more of a,
“I am happy I got out of jail type of celebration.”
But it only means, out of one jail and into a different type of jail. From the jail of lack of social influence to that of lack of financial freedom… because you know, when in school all you worry about is excelling at your studies whereas completing it means now excelling at making money to pay for the next person’s fees – which is clearly a struggle if you look closely into our economy as it stands.
The Ma-two thousand generation which is the now generation is dealing with issues that were never dealt with by the previous generation. Dealing with environmental issues and societal issues of a sad and mentally affected generation, so much that the only thing we do on most of our social media platforms like Tik Tok is make and share jokes and dancing videos.
We are very far from sharing home works, assignments or developmental content on our social media because we need therapeutic content – why? It is this ongoing struggle we go through of a developing country, full of developing minds being developed by former oppressed mentality – because at some point not so long ago some of our people were oppressed somehow by the system, so yes we are afraid to finish school, because we feel like we are going to fall in the same trap of high varsity fees and the high unemployment rate, which might result into introduction to new habits that have potential to offend the system as it’s assumed nature is to oppress any rise in human pursuit.
To be continued…