Matthew

My transition in life has gone from being a top achiever in primary school to becoming a more semi- achiever as I progressed from Grade 8-10. I went from being bullied to becoming the bully and projecting my anger towards people who did not deserve it but that’s how I went on about my life. Friends would try to encourage me to be better for myself but I felt slowly led to my own destruction and harm that stunned me.

Something has indirectly paved my head and mental space to a certain extent where I felt there is no return, but gradually I felt like the spark inside me coming back but at the same time, going back down to darkness and it was really sad to myself.  

Then I made the most scary decision of my life which was to leave school after I finished Grade 10. I was at home for that year and a half while completing matric at night school. In 2024, my journey of matric came to an end as I wrote my finals and to my happiness, I passed, maybe not the way I expected to but yet I passed. But I thought my future was going to fall apart because I did not reach the minimum requirements to apply where I planned to study but then my sister came to my rescue and told me about Communiversity. Within a week of applying, I was greeted one morning as I woke up by a message from a lady named Fatiema, and I remember how easy I felt to know I was a possible candidate to join the program and I told my mom and I could see how proud she was of me.

I remember arriving at the Tokai campus and being so excited to start this new journey of my life.

I didn’t plan on having friends or even communicating with anyone except for the staff members and class lecturers but as soon as I sat down in my seat in the right-hand corner of the classroom , Fatiema asked me if I could help assist one of the students. My first thought was “I have to now speak to this person”, “I have to form some type of relationship with him because we’d travel together” but little did I know it was the start to a crazy yet constructive friendship that I hope lasts a lifetime because he is truly someone who is amazing along with his imperfections. I have never seen him for that …rather I see him as another human being that has had an eventful journey through life and is trying to make it better going forward and that was one of the most exciting things I experienced while at Communiversity, being able to make a new friend that accepted me for who I am and visa-versa. I also got to learn a lot about myself while being on the programme , I learned new skills that I never thought I would learn or achieve within myself, and I’m proud to say this programme has unlocked a lot of chained up things in my life.

My lecturers were really so amazing and interesting and it helped me be more vocal and able to express my opinions and be accepted as I am which made me feel more at home, and it was really nice to be accepted and to be taught how to accept others and to respect them. 

My experience with Transcendental Meditation was a really shocking one because I never envisioned myself to be someone who would be into any form of meditation but my teacher, Barry, taught me how to bring myself to a comfortable form of quietness inside my head that was long overdue. I’m truly happy to have had that experience. The Communiversity Programme has really changed me, and I am forever grateful. It was truly life-changing.