TruthAboutLies101

While sitting at her laptop on the weather service finding out tomorrow’s temperature, Raisa Meiswinkel reflects while smiling “I need to plan my outfit to wear for tomorrow because I like being in control”. As you walk into her room, on the notice board she has a week by week planner of the work she has to do. The sounds of the Gorillas play through her Hi-Fi, and while looking around her room there are photos of her family members, boyfriend and friends and she says “I need to keep my family members close to keep me to keep a balance”.

“One of my weaknesses is that I am a person who needs to be right and this is detrimental to my health”, Raisa believes that this may be the reason for staying at Rhodes, where she realises that she is not necessarily really that happy. “The fact that I do not want to be proven wrong, will make me stay at Rhodes”. But she believes that with the right attitude she can make it work. Her only problem with the university is that she does not enjoy the, “Rhodes’ vibe, it is very elitist”. The ornaments in her room, her colourful “hippy- type” handbags; as she calls them; and the statues placed at different corners in her room portray her as a down to earth person who does not like people showing off their material wealth and illustrates why she feels like she does not fit into the “preppy” crowd at Rhodes.

“I have always wanted to write and do art”, she reflects as she recalls the choices she had to make before coming to Rhodes. Her life has always been filled with art and she even went so far as to move away from home at 16 to Pretoria to study art. That did not work out so she went back home to Port Elizabeth and attended another two art schools and eventually ended up at an academic college, which is where she realised that, “I had other talents besides art” and that she needed to apply her mind and brain to something other than art.

Raisa initially wanted to go to Cape Town to the advertising school A.A.A. but decided against it and opted rather for Rhodes, “I wanted to be far away from home and not be under my mothers’ protection but close enough in case the shit hit the fan”, she laughingly jokes. During O-week at Rhode she explained in embarrassment, “I kept my mom in my room and would not let her or myself out”. She was not prepared enough for the changes she would face in university life and did not want to let go of her mom and see it through alone.

“Nothing is too terrible; yet”, this is her logic as she explains her reasons for staying at Rhodes and states once again that she will probably get sick just in attempt to survive by working hard at her academics. She is happy with her family and friends and wants a balanced life, where there is no-one dictating her every move. Sitting at her laptop in her pyjamas with rings on her fingers, she smiles and states that, “although I am struggling, I am making a conscious decision to make this work and hopefully I won't die in the process!”

Tyreen Ragadu