Our Stories

Lekoma: Botswana, BSC

My visa application was hectic

The hardest process is getting the actual permit. I think it took me over a month to get it. When I went in October they told me I was too early. I went again in November and I was given a check-list of things I needed to do get. Which I did. I took my forms to the Visa Facilitation Services office (VFS) They told me that I needed a letter from the school where I had been accepted. Then they asked me for my South African medical aid. There are no South African medical aid providers in my country. I started doing research online, until I eventually found one and had to register and pay everything online.

The first thing they check for when you get to South Africa is a study permit. You have to have a visa to enter the country, at the South African airport. I didn’t want to be turned around when I was 15 hours away. 

Its complicated, annoying and time consuming but it must be done. I just wish the different organizations communicated better, like the VFS, the embassy, the Department of Home affairs, the university, so I knew what order to do everything in.

There are still people that come to school without the visa, I have no idea how. I guess they were still in the country when their visa expired, and they still have 30 days after that to sort everything out.  My mom was on my tail to get it done as soon as possible because the administrators that process the study visas work at their own pace. I felt that they had no sense of urgency and they expected me to know everything. I had to find out on my own where I even needed to apply if: I must do it through the embassy or the VFS office because some countries have the facilitation offices and some don’t.

They told me that stamping and legitimacy is important. Original copies of documents were hard to come by, especially my acceptance letter. I had it emailed to me, but the visa application asked for an original copy so I had to get it posted to me, which took time.

Eventually I got my application through and waited until I had to go pick it up.

Dennis: Kenya, JMS

Travelling is so expensive

I booked my flights as soon as I got my visa. Friends had told me to give myself plenty of time before I started school so I could settle when I got to Grahamstown. I took a flight from Gaborone to Johannesburg but my journey did not end there. I had to take another flight from Johannebsurg to Port Elizabeth, the closest place to Rhodes University that had an airport. Finding out about your res[idence] before-hand is important, and if you’re not sure you should find out at registration. I followed the registration signs to Eden Grove, the big administration building where everyone goes to register. They asked me for my original passport and copies of that, as well as of my visa and medical aid certificate.

The wait was long and can be tedious but I felt closer to my destination than I had felt the day before. I took the opportunity to meet the people around me in the queue. We asked each other what we were studying and what res[idence] we were in.

I had pre-registered online on ROSS with the sign-in details that the university had sent me, so when I got to the registration table they just asked me for my documents and to sign something. Before I could go to res[idence] I went upstairs to curriculum approval. Basically, I talked about what subjects I wanted to do and what my three-year plan was. Rhodes is amazing for this, you can be doing a degree that lets you take science and art, or drama and maths alongside each other as long as they don’t clash in the lecture schedule.

Beverly: Zambia, Law

My first week in Makhanda

Orientation lasted a week. It’s when all the first years get together. We do fun things and get to know the town, each other, our classes and so on. I went to an international students’ forum organized by the international office at Rhodes. It was informative and motivating. I started making friends in res[idence], I joined societies at sign-ups and started finding my way around campus and the town. I began thinking about saving money because I wasn’t always getting an allowance from my parents as often as when I was living at home. I wasn’t sure about getting a part time job yet.

I got a piggy bank for my coins, which I started using to refill 5l bottles at Spar because you can’t drink Grahamstown water out the tap. I thought it was going to be cheaper here, but I found myself spending a lot of money on travelling to Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred with friends to find things to entertainment myself like the mall or the movies. I had to order some stuff online like my hair products because it was so hard to find them locally. A friend of mine told me about the second hand buy-and-sell Facebook page, so I started selling some stuff I didn’t need on there. It was a great community of students all doing the same thing.

Very quickly, I saw that South Africa has its own culture, Makhanda has its own culture and Rhodes has its own culture. This why many students experience culture shock and find it hard to navigate a very different environment to you own. Having to adjust wasn’t easy. It might seem scary but its all part of being a university student. Language was a massive barrier. It can make you feel like you belong- or that you don’t. I began greeting people in their mother tongue and started feeling more included- in dining hall, in town while doing grocery shopping.

I got homesick. I missed my mom. So, I started talking to other international students, and even local South African students and we felt a little homesick. We’d have movie nights in the common room, study nights in the library conference rooms, drinks in town, dinners at restaurants (where I spent more money), and before I knew it was the end of three years. I had studied hard, made amazing friendships, visited new places, and got accepted for honours in my chosen course.

It’s time for a visa renewal, let it all start again.