So your decker-mate on the top bunk wets her bed, what is my 13-year old self to do? Ka'aba taught me the art of negotiating my way to reasonablenesss. How else does one survive the deluge of everyday issues that come my way? I learnt how to not only persuade the sister to air the offending beddings, in a manner that allowed her to save face. Of course, we also swapped beds. #ThinkWinWin
So, the weekend visits by friends and family meant that food and drinks flowed freely on Sunday nights. We learnt the art of sharing as well as the science of food preservation to within an inch of expiration or decay. #ResourceManagement101.
So exams were round the corner, and I'm raw to the core in terms of preparedness. Because academics generally interfered with the smooth running of our social lives, I generally put off reading until the exam timetable sobered up my young mind. During these ruffling times of trials and tribulations, Ka'aba taught me to panic slowly. I was introduced to the nocturnal art of nano-compresson of entire examinable content into mental capsules that would be released at day-break. #PressureManagement
Ka'aba opened my eyes to the fallacy of 'self-sufficiency'. We won whenever we dealt with the 'rabble-trouble' that seemed to stalk us, as we fumbled our way through the fog of our adolescence. #Strategic Alliances.
So we were herded together in 'open plan' sleeping quarters, where we lived in each other's spaces, recycling each other's air, stepping on each other's toes, and generally being all over each other's business. We hang in there though. We knew that decongestion would happen when we transitioned from the bottom of the food-chain (Form One) and move into the partitioned dormitories of the Form Twos, which would usher us into privilege and privacy. #EarningYourStripes.
So life roughed us up sometimes. There were moments of home-sickness. There was also this animal called duties. Woe to you if you were assigned the duty to maintain 'law and order' in the ablution quarters. Without running water, there were days it felt like Labour Camp. At times like this, I learnt to look to God to help me navigate the complexities of my changing world. #FactoringGodIn Life'sEquation.
Ka'aba was a rite of passage that weaned us out of our childish ways and thrust us into young adulthood. We came away with a great sense of ourselves and others. #HandlingLifeTransitions.
So many years later, Ka'aba goes up in flames. Our hearts are heavy, but we rise. We draw from the bond of friendship that was formed in those formative years in Ka'aba. We pull together. The lessons learnt find their expression in our every-day lives. Ka'aba was not just another hall of residence. It was a 'state of becoming'. Our lives are richer for it! #MatchlessGratitude.
So we were herded together in 'open plan' sleeping quarters, where we lived in each other's spaces, recycling each other's air, stepping on each other's toes, and generally being all over each other's business. We hang in there though. We knew that decongestion would happen when we transitioned from the bottom of the food-chain (Form One) and move into the partitioned dormitories of the Form Twos, which would usher us into privilege and privacy. #EarningYourStripes.
So life roughed us up sometimes. There were moments of home-sickness. There was also this animal called duties. Woe to you if you were assigned the duty to maintain 'law and order' in the ablution quarters. Without running water, there were days it felt like Labour Camp. At times like this, I learnt to look to God to help me navigate the complexities of my changing world. #FactoringGodIn Life'sEquation.
Ka'aba was a rite of passage that weaned us out of our childish ways and thrust us into young adulthood. We came away with a great sense of ourselves and others. #HandlingLifeTransitions.
So many years later, Ka'aba goes up in flames. Our hearts are heavy, but we rise. We draw from the bond of friendship that was formed in those formative years in Ka'aba. We pull together. The lessons learnt find their expression in our every-day lives. Ka'aba was not just another hall of residence. It was a 'state of becoming'. Our lives are richer for it! #MatchlessGratitude.
