What to avoid on campus

Ruvimbo Makuwaza 

Campus life is an undeniable dream for almost every person at a certain point in life.

Those who have gone before us describe campus life, as heaven on earth. The quest for a paradise is often the driving force for this mirage. Little do we know that campus life is not as rosy as it seems.

As soon as one sets foot on campus, there is an identity crisis waiting to grab you by the throat. This is where most people lose themselves.

They tend to fake who they are, spend more than they have or even start going for “blessers” with the hope of “fitting in” and being noticed and accepted.

There is also a culture shock resulting from meeting people from all walks of life and from different cultures, beliefs and backgrounds. These tend to deepen the extent of the identity crisis.

In an economically unstable environment such as ours three out of every five students are affected by lack of funds to pay for tuition or other educational requirements.

Some scholarships awarded students do not cover everything as hoped for by the students. This tends to leave the students depressed and wondering where he/she will get the money to pay up.

There are also day-to-day expenses which arise on campus, for instance, assignments needing to be submitted as hard copy, where money for printing is needed or money for meals.

All these often work in cahoots to steal the joy from the expectations of campus life for many students.

If used wisely, freedom is a good thing. However, in most cases this freedom is abused. Since the gates are never closed, students take this as an opportunity to go out freely, get drunk and have “fun”.

They conveniently forget the consequences of such actions. As a result the freedom granted to students ends up posing a challenge because of failure to manage it.

Another challenge is finances – whether shortage or excess of it. Those with inadequate resources tend to feel inferior and in extreme cases some go to the extent of stealing. Others, however, are forced to juggle full academic schedules with full-time or part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Students awash with money abuse their status by asking other students into transactional relations such as sex in exchange for money.

On campus relationships – as exciting as they seem, judging by the fact that you can always be around your boyfriend or girlfriend – are actually proving to be a challenge.

It is one thing to hear that your partner at some other far away university is cheating on you and another thing to actually see it happening live and direct.

Some students fail to handle disagreements, break-ups and as a result they suffer depression and under-perform in class.

Ruvimbo Makuwaza is a student at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT).