“Ganbei ganbei” as the Chinese will say, cheers again and again to this great moment in my life that helped me know that indeed the race is not to the swift , nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet favor to men of skill; but that time and chance happens to them all”*. In this same month of July I once upon a time graduated with a Masters in a far away land- China. Indeed, the journey to completing a Masters program read in the Chinese language was not without tumultuous storms and apprehension of all sorts. Anyone who has schooled in a foreign land knows that adjusting to a new environment is a full exam on its own. Every country and its socio-cultural dictates, pressure and challenge, but when we learn well, we grow and when we grow we get stronger. Studying and completing studies in China made me realize these three important things that I would like to share with you as you also run the race to that mighty destination.
1. You are where you are for a reason :
Many people think that they may have found the culture, the lifestyle or the nature of a certain place attractive and so inadvertently went to that place for further studies, or perhaps that an opportunity presented itself just at the right time and so they got to be in that country. But beyond the things that your human mind may have conceived as a reason for you to be in that place, you are there for more than that. You may be there to receive insight for a whole life calling. You may be there to get seeds planted in you for a life changing dream to be realized, you may be there in order to see into the vision ahead, you may be there to build friendships and bridges to a greater destination or you may simply be there to brighten up that corner in a way no body may have done before. So many hidden reasons are in that step you took to go to the country where you are. It’s not just a matter of certificate; it’s a matter of reason and fate. So it's always good to look deeper into what that place is bringing to you and to consider it all in the light of purpose.
2. Please don't get lost in the crowd:
On the graduation day when I saw my name stamped and written in the usual letters I registered with, I remembered that I was still that individual, that person who had left country and friends and family to pursue new heights in China. And yes I was still that person who still had to continue to pursue an individual path from here. Though I had a Chinese name my colleagues and lecturers called me by and which could be written in Chinese characters, they had chosen to respect my original identity on that final day, and so it is for anyone who travels, you may blend in sometimes, you may move with some friends and new acquaintances but you still remain an individual and you are not supposed to “get lost in the crowd”. The individual person that you are means a lot. It means that there is individual purpose, there is an individual path and there is an individual destination. So as a foreigner abroad, I believe you can learn and improve and grow but do not lose your focus and individual vision and sight. The sea of influence is great in many ways and people can get carried away most times but on graduation day, as for each person, your original name remains, no matter the names you may have gotten or adopted in another place, your real name and identity is what remains and your individual path lies ahead too.
3. You stand against all odds
Sometimes the odds may be against you. Challenges may be all around you, pitfalls and barriers and large opposition may come to make you give up and fall out halfway in the journey to the end. Sometimes just because the language you are studying or studying in is not your first language, you may feel sudden flashes of discouragement and frustration creep in and you may feel out of pace, because those in their comfort zone may be running ahead of you. But after you have done all you can do to stand, the secret may be to just keep standing. There were many times in the beginning I felt scared and at a point I felt discouraged but I had to tell myself that even the lectures that scared or discouraged me most, were ones I had to keep showing up for and in the end, this made me more disciplined than I was before, because I learnt to put my feelings out of the way. In order to really stand as a "foreigner' in a "foreign land" reading a "foreign course", in a "foreign country" you may have to do what you don't like and like what you have to do in order to succeed.
3.Because It's not all about you.
Whether you realize it or not, your perseverance in your studies is not all about you and not just all about making a better future for your family. It’s also a call on your life sometimes linked to a whole nation being perhaps delivered by you in an unimaginable way. This may sound out of proportion but it is true. Joseph in the Bible delivered a whole nation Israel from their starvation because he was prime minister in Egypt. A language learnt, a course pursued, a degree held in your hand is a full seed of deliverance that a whole nation can benefit from. So where you are is not just your story it may be the story of a nation represented elsewhere, and the impact may be bigger than you think. Most people I met from Pakistan and India, Tanzania and Ireland, were to me the closest picture I could have of their nation and so are you in that place where you are or in that country where you study. In all, the first time the Ghana flag went up in the hall of the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) was my graduation day and I remember my Mongolian colleague saying “Oh that is your flag”. I was proud to have represented my nation however small and unnoticed it was, and that was when I realized that each flag represented there was that of a student who had graduated in the school. So when you run out of breath, remember that the life of a whole nation may be hidden behind the race you are running and if God desires, YOU may be an answer for a big need. So keep pressing on…
Though the race is still on, we can still celebrate how far we have come, looking back at where we started from. More strength and Grace to all those running academic races outside of their country. May you taste the joy of finishing well.
Written by Alice D. Blighton
Blighton InterACT:(International Agency for Communication and translation)
Inspiring you..one language at a time.
