the promise

I made solemn promise to myself that when i had my own computer and internet access i would blog and write and write freely and now i do and its time I kept up to that promise after all what excuse could I possibly have for not being able to blog when I want to if I want to.........

*sigh*

What a day so far...I woke up not really sure of what I was going to do at 7 in the morning..i eventually went to the gym wif my roommate and Friend? lol..Guess in the process of living with each other for so long and going through so much together since we came to Cape Town on the 26th of January 2010..I was reading and deleting smses from that day earlier today..smses from the airport when we were so excited and happy and hopeful and what a different and interesting journey It has turned out to be..crashing with a senior student at the Woolsack residence on middle campus..looking in the shadiest of places for a place to say while other students moved into res AND [this is the important bit I forgot at the time] OTHER students were in a similar if not worse postion..at least we had somewhere to squat....somewhere relatively quiet where we were fot the most part unnoticed..We find out after moving into Leo Marquard hall that there were many many like us and that like many many experiences we have as people..they were common...Ive often thought afterwards that had I received a place in residence BEFORE coming to UCT I would not have appreciated everything in the manner that I do now..Heard a senior student complain about Saturday lunch and I thought since when are Burgers and chips and a whole range of salads considered bad lunch..maybe because in those first few days I survived on buying loads of expensive junk food that cost way too much and maybe because back home lunch on a Saturday..unless it was month end was never like that..6slices of buttered bread was always enough for me with a some rooibos tea and now I eat in one meal what wouldve been enough for two at home..I doubt any of this wouldve come to me had everything just clicked into place..I needed a reminder in those first few days that life was still life and nothing was going to be delivered on silver platter and that work and patience was going to be needed...speaking of patience thats the whole reason I started to write...

Reply from Dr.Hofmeyr

I sure do enjoy your mails. The last one is a real gem. We at Study Trust are also worried about the skewed funding pattern caused by the fact that the corporates partnering with us are obviously trying to grow the talent and skills pool in their respective industries and the we thus fund many more budding CAs, engineers and actuaries than sociologists, anthropologists, artists and actors. But we do get some money from individuals who contribute on a monthly basis and they do not prescribe to us so we can fund the odd artist, like the one who last year won the Sasol New Signature Award for her work Pierneef goes Plascon (Maryke van Velden from Stellenbosch).



I find what you say about the pressure to become a CA (or an actuary) really interesting. I sometimes despair when I think of the talented and determined bright young people we fund and how they say things like “I want to climb the corporate ladder” without knowing what awaits them. I recently read the book by Alain de Botton called The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and the picture it paints of most professions is bleak indeed. One of the only occupations that comes off well is that of an artist. De Botton followed this artist over a two-year period in which he just painted one tree under various circumstances – in rain and shine, winter and summer, night and day. Eventually he had an exhibition and sold enough paintings of the tree to at least give him an income – more or less equivalent to that of a plumber’s assistant. But you are right, the reader gets the sense that this guy is happy – something that cannot be said of the accountants and marketing managers also profiled in the book, to say nothing about the tuna fishers and the logistic engineers. By the way, I really recommend this book, as well as De Botton’s other books, of which his second book The Consolations of Philosophy you might find of particular interest.



Your mail inspired me to talk to our corporate funders about including the odd social science or art student in their bursary programmes.



By the way, my own son is first year BA Dramatic Arts at Wits this year.



I will attend to your enquiries about payments either tomorrow or on Monday when I am in the office.



Have a great weekend.



Warm regards

MH



Murray Hofmeyr

National Director: Study Trust

Email to Dr.Hofmeyr...

Good Afternoon.
I guess will it will be morning when you read this but nonetheless greetings to you. I think if someone bothered to ask students what they really thought and did so in an enviroment where they felt comfortable and free, they would find that many many students are stuck studying courses they dont really want to for various reasons, the most obvious one being pressure from parents but also the brainwashing. shall I call it, that takes place within our society. From school level we are told about skills shortages and bursary opportunities and the benefits of going into such fields, the benefit for the country that is. As students we are are alerted to the fact that there is shortage of 20 000 C.A's but no one tells us of the dire need for sociologists, black sociologists in particular or clinical and educational psychologists. Thus the majority of students flock to commerce in the hope of filling that shortage and becoming successful C.A's. I'm not a qualified C.A myself but I am friends with one, what is interesting is that he qualified, worked and got bored. At 28, He's back at university as a first year to study drama and psychology and there are many like him at UCT, 4th year engineering students who suddenly stop and say I want to study fine art or music. I have the most amount of respect for people studying fine art or music or something of that nature because their career paths are not that defined and funding is extremely difficult to find but in spite of that they continue to follow thier dreams walking aroung campus barefoot having to deal with stares but they are the happiest in my opinion. That isnt to say there are no genuine engineers or accountants I think certain charecteristics make us perfect for certain professions, I for one border on obsessive when it comes to detail and analysing which come in very handy for accounting. Im actually enjoying my accounting alot here at UCT so much that Ive considered going back to the C.A option but I love the broader view that Politics and Philosophy give me, they are certainly challenging but most enjoyable when I apply myself to them. So in response to what you said among those engineers and accountants lie many who wish they could study philosophy or music or dance but circumstances dictate that they help the nation fill an ever growing skills shortage.

About the laptop, you said Mr. Mcira was processsing payment, what exactly does that mean and when will the photocopying money be deposited into my account. As i've already mentioned I fuss over detail and dislike having any grey areas which makes studying Philosophy a bit more challenging.
Warm regards


LETHUKUTHULA BLESSING VILAKAZI

YOUNG PHILOSOPHER & GROWING ACADEMIC

NEAT *Grins*

Techno world HERE I COME!!!!
today i discovered soething soooo neat. If you press Ctrl and then B the bold thingy comes on!! and if you combine Ctrl and I the italics thingy also comes on!! this of course follows another massive discocery on my part..QWERTY *grins* my clever self discovered why they called it a QWERTY keyboard because its QWERTY!!!!like oh my GUCCI[tribute to the girl who lives @ Graca Machel Hall and always has a Gucci Ad on her window!] but that was so cool!!
*thinking.....maybe I could work @ CERN AFTER ALL*