Four years in college: graduation year

Four years in college, we all didn’t think we would be here
Just three years ago we all got here and didn’t know what to
expect
Four years in college, we all faced trials and tribulations
Along the way, we lost so many great souls,
We’ve had so many sleepless nights,
We faced depression more than we faced our exam papers
So many wanted to give up, but we kept our shoulders high
and we pushed
Four years in college and now we are here.
There were nights, we cried because we couldn’t take it
anymore
There were days things didn’t work out
We’ve had so many close calls but somehow it wasn’t our time
There were days when prayer was not enough,
Lecturers were hard to convince
So many of us slept with an empty stomach
Not because we didn’t have food but we didn’t have time
When you are here all by yourself, your number one goal is to
not disappoint your parents.
There times you had to decide if whether you should be in
this relationship or not
There were times you thought you should call home and tell
them that you want to come
There were nights you said you are okay, even when you knew
deep down that you weren’t.
You just didn’t want to bother anyone
There were Saturday nights, your blood would just crave to
be out there and party
But Exams were coming like coaches of a train
Assignments were piled up in your room and you couldn’t
breath
Class of 2020, thank you, you made it, you finally got the
graduation gown
You got that paper you have always wanted
My name is Siphokazi from a little village in Kwa Zulu Natal
Like everyone else, I made it,
I should be celebrating,
I should be popping a champagne
I too should be wiping my mother tears with my graduation
gown
Only if that phew would mean that finally it’s done
As long as you are alive, God is not done with you
Four years in college, my mother worked hard so that I can
go to school like everyone else
She paid my fees with the little that she had
She made sure that I came back home with a graduation
gown
“Hey mom, it’s done”
We danced like headless chickens,
But celebrations in this family don’t last
Four years in college, my mother’s money went down the
drain
Nothing about this college was real
Fake lecturers
Fake certificates
Fake Security Company
Nothing is registered
Why me and my family?
Why? when we thought that now things will be fine because I
finally got the papers?
Stupid, stupid
What to do next?
My mother is saying she’s okay but she’s not
She’s trying to be strong but we’re all weak
He is gone
He took our money and left
200 students all left with nothing but depression
How do you feel when you open a college when deep down you
knew that it’s fake?
Why would you do something so evil to us?
How do you sleep, when you know that 200 students will have
to start from stretch to obtain a certificate again?
Do you know what our parents went through to pay you every
month so that we can get in class?
You would tell us that if we hadn’t had money by Monday
We shouldn’t come into your building
You left us with nothing but
Depression
Frustration
Four years in college
I didn’t know that I will wait for another year to make my
mother proud...