The world has developed an addiction to social media. There is a constant need to check the notifications panel, check your likes and be responding to a text every two minutes. My fellow Zimbabwean friends and family are helping out to credit the first two sentences, ever online or updating their status on Whatsapp. Family and friends are two of the greatest assets life can ever present. They are the gifts we value in a way that we would like to chat with them all day. My school work here at university has barred most of the surface level fun and deep social media conversations, but I respond quickly to their critical texts.
Immersing myself into life at Ashesi University has created a new vista in me. I have found myself ever occupied by academia and clubs. I have little or no time to have strings of long conversations for hours on end on social media anymore. I have utilized most of the short time I get to be present and soak up the Ashesi diversity. My friends and family back home in Zimbabwe see the need for constant communication, same as me. However, a few now understand the reasons for my recent slow text backs and stagnant profile and believe I am trying my best. It is easy for many to think that I’ve shunned them since I have left the country, but really I am trying to live.
Our humor is different right now. I am in my shoes. They are in their shoes. It’s difficult for them to fit in my shoes. They are now trying to fit in. I wrote chapters with them. I am grateful they are now coping with me being away in my new environment. They will learn that it is time for me to write more chapters here at Ashesi.
Lloyd Ncube (right) is a USAP alum who attended Tsholotsho High School and has recently started at Ashesi University in Ghana.
