Order Restored

© J. Francois Barnard - 24 November 2020

I reached my goal! At least the part I set out to do back in 2017. I graduated from the University of the People at the end of October 2020, and now it is time to wrap it up.

However, is getting the certificate all there is to it?

After your last exam, you wait for a week or two for UoPeople to process the results and then sign in on the online portal to apply for your degree. The system checks if you meet the requirements - the 120 credits for a bachelor's degree - and UoPeople mails your certificate to the address you supply. In my case, I provided a friend's address in the USA and asked them to courier it to me.

My home country's postal service is not reliable.

As I am older and employed, the BSBA degree will not make a difference at my current employer. But it does make a difference to me personally. As I said in Why did I start studying at 53, I needed to tick a box in my head.

Good Education

Moreover, as I said, I have a duty to live restored.

As a child, an elderly lady I knew as "Aunty Beb" gave me a book written by her late husband, Dr André van der Merwe, who was a member of the first South African expedition to Antarctica. In the book were old black-and-white photos of their experiences. One of them was a photo of their settlement titled "Before the Storm." Next was the photo titled "After the Storm." You can imagine what an arctic storm can do to a settlement in the 1950s. It took the scientists a week to restore the order again.

I could not restore the chaos after my storms in one week. It took me more than thirty years to make a start on this one and 3¼ years to complete my education, but now it is done!

And I can look back on it and say: "It was good!"

But does it end here? Why should it? There are more gaps to fill, and if all goes well, I might just tackle a Master's Degree program!