I’ve reached my goal! Specifically, the part I set out to achieve back in 2017. I graduated from the University of the People at the end of October 2020, and now it’s time to reflect and formally wrap up this chapter.

The question, though, is whether the certificate is the only measure of success.

After your last exam, you typically wait a week or two for UoPeople to process the results before signing in to the online portal to apply for the degree. Once the system confirms you meet the requirements—the 120 credits for a bachelor's degree—UoPeople mails the certificate. Due to the unreliability of my home country's postal service, I supplied a friend's address in the USA and arranged for them to courier it to me.

Since I am older and employed, the BSBA degree will not alter my standing at my current employer. However, it makes a profound difference to me personally. As I explained in “Why did I start studying at 53,” this journey was about fulfilling a deep, personal necessity—a box I needed to tick in my own mind.

A Life Restored

Good Education

More importantly, I feel I have a duty to live a life restored.

I often think back to a book given to me as a child by an elderly lady I knew as "Aunty Beb." It was written by her late husband, Dr André van der Merwe, a member of the first South African expedition to Antarctica. The book contained old black-and-white photos of their experiences. One was titled "Before the Storm," showing their settlement, and the next, dramatically, was titled "After the Storm." You can imagine the destruction an Arctic storm could inflict on a small settlement in the 1950s. It took the scientists a week to restore order again.

Unlike those scientists, I could not restore the chaos after my own storms in a week. It took me over thirty years just to make a start on this particular mission, and 3¼ intense years to complete the education, but now it is done!

And I can look back on it and say: "It was good!"

Does the journey end here? Why should it? There are still gaps to fill, and if all goes well, I might just tackle a Master's Degree programme next!