Tag My School//the timeline//1st issue
July - September 2017
My journey from Emalahleni to the City of Gold
Relocating can be daunting and even scarier moving to another City or Province. Starting over in the new environment where no one knows you or really care that much about who you are. Well that is tough enough but moving to Jozi is another beast on its own. The City of Gold is an unforgiving and heartless place to live in, but even more ruthless if you coming from a different Province with no relatives to welcome you.
Lots of students floods Johannesburg every beginning of the year, driven by different reasons from job hunting, studying to various personal reasons. Joburg is buzzing with people from different walks of life, here to make their lives better. In isiZulu they say “kwanyama ayipheli kuphela ama zinyo endoda,’’ meaning there is enough for everyone. Joburg presents endless opportunities for everyone willing and determined.
However Jozi can be as equally devastating. And one of the people who know all about it is Gugu Motsepe originally from Mpumalanga Province.
Gugu has had a long dream of moving to Gauteng one day. Determined to fulfil this dream she decided to pack her bags and embark on a long awaited journey. Gugu comes to Joburg.
Fortunate enough “parents did not stand in my way, I was given blessings to come and start a new life for myself” she explains. Gugu says that she came here to grow as a person; the independence that comes with a move like can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. “Being away from my parents is one of the hardest things do” she says. Before leaving home her mother gave her words of wisdom and which she lives by every day.
‘Unga vumi I Goli liku gwinye,’
meaning “Don’t allow Johannesburg to swallow you”. Moving was exciting but her fears about Jozi were losing her morals, values, beliefs that she raised on.
Her quest for gold began in 2015 she comes from Emalahleni. At 22 Gugug is completing her Business Management studies at Rosebank College in Braamfontein. She had to quickly adapt to the fast paced life in Jozi.
Gugu gets homesick at times and misses her dad’s food and her little brother.
Even though the distance from Mpumalanga to Johannesburg is not that big but the distance lifestyles is vast.
“It felt like moving to another country all together”..
According to Gugug many students come to the City and get sucked into the deep pits of all kinds from prostitution, drugs to becoming hobos aimlessly wandering around the streets of Braam. The only way to avoid such negatives people should remind themselves why they came here in the first place.
She admits to going to events and like most Braamies she has fun, but she knows when to have fun and when to get back to the reason why she came to Jozi. In the first three months of 2017 she decided to get a job while studying meaning she had to balance her studies with work. She has so many crazy experiences since moving here: she was attending a comedy night at the Sbar South Point and when she was leaving the building she did not see the sliding door and she walked straight into it and enjoyed her few minutes of providing the last joke for the night.
Moving can be intimidating but do not let fears hold you back, especially when it comes to school or jobs, make that trip, make the mistakes and learn from them do not be afraid to live.
Learning and living in Jozi nothing quite like it!!
By Ndweni-Dumezweni
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