My first year at Tuks started normally. I started studying Chemical Engineering in 2020 when COVID-19 was just a story carried over from foreign places. “Lockdown” was alien to me and everyone around me. Much like a fairy tale, inconceivable and difficult to grasp.
The days felt short and the time flew by and suddenly, COVID-19 had become a reality for South Africans. Life changed so quickly and before we knew it the University had shut down, and it was announced that a 3-week full lockdown would commence.
I was naïve enough to think that after 3 weeks life would return to normal, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Life would never be the same again.
The 3-week lockdown turned into 5 weeks. That turned into a few months and before I knew it, the rest of 2020 turned into lockdown.
We had a “recess” for about 3 months and then online learning, a very new experience for me, became my everyday reality.
During that brief time before Covid-19 threatened our country and after the lockdown began, I entered the UP Library week contest and was delighted to find out I was one of the winners. The problem? We weren’t allowed on campus for about two years, so my prize came and went and I had almost forgotten about the whole thing.
As I was sifting through my emails on 13 September 2022, trying to sort out the mess that is called a full inbox, I came across the original email notifying me that I was one of the winners. I thought, “Let’s give it a shot. Maybe they still have my prize.” It was a long shot, and the prizes had already been redistributed as other gifts.
Regardless of my missing out on the opportunity, the Marketing Office arranged another gift basket for me and I ended up a very happy library client, 3 years after the fact!
Thank you to the Marketing Office for all your hard work and for caring for the students so much!
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