Graduation Day Celebration in Uganda: From Hustle to Honour

It’s October, the month before the month before the month of Christmas. The month Uganda gained its independence after sixty-two years of colonial rule. The month the Israel-Hamas conflict began. The month John Lennon, the legend who sang ‘Imagine all the people sharing all the world…’ was born. The month the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz made its first appearance in newspapers. The month Oktoberfest derived its name from. In general, it is a month with promise.

For some universities in the country, October means graduation season. Now, before you skip to the bottom of the article, this is not one of those “graduates are not equally proportional to jobs available in the country” articles. Instead, this article will highlight the resilience, dedication and commitment these individuals had that got them into that glorious ‘TENT’ or auditorium.

When we speak of university graduation, for the most part, it is a big thing! Before the anxiety, elation creeps in. Two, three, four, five or even six years of hustling with books finally pays off. What better way to celebrate yourself than by splashing cash on an elaborate function?

With graduation, looms expectations from all over that weigh the graduand down. Where is the girl? Where is the man? Have you gotten a job? Get yourself a place to stay. But here I ask you to take a pause and appreciate your efforts. Breathe in. Breathe out.

You have just graduated! You’ve been spending sleepless nights in your cubicle of a room, sipping stale coffee and occasionally getting up to dance the sleep away. You might have gotten yourself elbow-deep in debt just for you to acquire that degree. The degree you have just graduated with may not be approved by your family, but because it is your passion, you chose to live with their disappointment. You just graduated from the most prestigious university! Live in the moment!

The final stretch may have been the worst with threats of retakes, missed exams, missing marks and dissertation pressure. Your mental well-being undulates like the pool water that you pretend to swim in as a way to recover hours spent sitting glued to your PC (that might not even be yours, but borrowed from a friend who has attached multiple conditions for you to be able to use it for the weekend). Take a moment to appreciate the journey, appreciate the highs and lows. Appreciate the friends and foes. Take note of the evident growth.

In her 2015 graduation speech, Michelle Obama said, “I’ve found that this journey has been incredibly freeing. Because no matter what happened, I had the peace of mind knowing that all of the chatter, the name-calling, the doubting…all of it was just noise. It did not define me, it didn’t change who I was, and most importantly, it couldn’t hold me back.”

The university/college experience is something to be grateful for because it never repeats itself (at least not in the same way). So, to you who have graduated or are graduating, you have come out stronger, and you have been able to push passed the friction. Above all, your graduation apparel fit right, and even if it didn’t, choose to laugh about it, not grumble, because you made it this far.

Give no room to anxiety and unnecessary pressures, instead give thanks as Koffee says “Everything we do, we give thanks. Tell dem wah we do Lowe di L, take di W One thing deh out deh fi you. And it nah come if you nah go”.