My survival: Hope

My survival: Delay is no guarantee to silence and failure
Education and studying new stuffs in life can be considered as my hobbies. At my cool 
and quiet moments, I always read books and some novels. Back in those days in my secondary 
school, my performance wasn’t that outstanding even though I was above average. Doing the 
sciences was a dream which I succeeded in doing and later, out of good performance, I was 
appointed senior prefect girl of that institution. It was a glorious moment for me to lead students, 
attend seminars with the school administration. It equally gave me a sense of responsibility and 
leadership which I groomed till date. I lived happily with those in my school, my ideas were 
considered, my conversations and points were not overridden and this made me know that I was 
going somewhere. Wow!
After successfully going through secondary school happily (those who offered the 
sciences should understand what I mean. Our dreams as big as they were kept the candle 
burning), I immediately enrolled into a renowned school of Agricultural science in one of the 
best universities in my country. Dear all, it was a beginning of another life and a transformation 
period for me because I had to study in another language other than English language. It was hell 
for me and that was my doom studying in French language. My best at school wasn’t good 
enough to place me at an average above 12 despite all efforts. My complaints to the school 
authorities to translate courses to English for the sake of English speaking students all fell on 
deaf ears and that was it for the first few years (2012-2015).
Gradually over the years (the third year), I fought against mockery and insults from my 
counterparts, depression and inferiority complex. Thoughts like “you’re not going to make it, the 
francophones are stronger than you so give it up” kept ringing on my mind but I told myself that 
the end matters and not the beginning. In order to complete my last two years of professional
studies (2016-2017), I was obliged to carry out a professional internship of not less than 6months 
in preparation for defense and subsequently to obtain of a professional masters degree. Believe 
you me my school gave me 4 months for this internship, to submit a thesis and to prepare for 
defense. This was a challenging moment for me because as a crop production student, we are 
obliged to carry out a field experiment from which we are to collect data and to write a thesis. It 
wasn’t easy to carry out a field experiment because the crop I chose was tomato whose life cycle 
is about 120 days. 
When I started, I had several obstacles which hindered the progress of my write up and 
unfortunately, I didn’t defend in the stipulated time. This was because of the limited time the 
school gave me. Many friends and course mates went ahead and defended even with incomplete 
field data and they were awarded their diploma. Candidly speaking, I was tempted to falsify my 
data and submit my thesis in order to be counted as one of those who had completed their work 
on time. I didn’t want to be mocked at anymore. I wanted my friends to also see me as one of the 
tough students. But where will all these lead me to? Where is my dignity and pride? What can I
boast of if not of a task well done? These questions kept ringing in my mind and so I decided tohold still and be patient. I hung in there and I am still waiting for that fortunate day that my 
school will call me up for defense.
Today, I am joyful because I can successfully and easily carryout field experiments without 
major setbacks and obstacles. This distinguishes me from those students who rushed over their 
thesis in order not to wait for one year still. 
I will like to encourage young girls not to give up the zeal for what they love so much. And that 
patience is a virtue because its fruits are enormous and that in any delay, there is a change and 
transformation that that delay leaves in you. Try to see it and brave it lest you fall. I know what I
will gain in this delay and the only thing I console myself is that one day I am gonna defend and 
get that diploma in order to use it in search for a job. This is my survival: Hope!