There is a Jungle out here-snapshot into the life of Wada

A few people that know me well,remember me for my successes,both in Junior secondary school and at BGCSE sitting.Apparently,i'm told,my grades were the best for both sittings countrywide.I am not sure how true that is,because i never felt half as smart as most people made it seem.I always felt like i didn't know stuff,and i listened when someone taught me something new,i read when i didn't know and i asked people to teach me,i stalked them if i had to,i even begged.One time when i felt my Setswana was dragging my results down,i asked for notes from my dorm mate who was in a single science class and excelling in her languages.Even though we have since lost touch i do hope someday she will know just how much she helped me.I knew she always got an A in Setswana and i was determined that even though the language did  not come  naturally to me ,i was going to learn it so well it would know me by name and get A or even better A* -i would say ''se tla nkitse''- Setswana. One time my mama's  kettle's plastic top melted while i was concentrating on my reading-unlike most children i know,my own mama,a teacher for over 20 years,wanted to give me a beating for reading and not concentrating on what i was supposed to be doing,i e making tea. Even when the results came out,i was still reading,trying to figure out things that i hadn't had time to figure out during the school term..I sometimes meet people who say hey,you were the best student in our time.For me,that was a momentary fleeting moment.Those are not the days I remember.I remember my first test in Literature class,in Mater Spei College,PL4 class of 2006 intermixed with students from  VL4 and RU4,taught by the beautiful and now late Mma Gaolathe,(may her soul rest in peace) ,I was the last in my class,a 30percent mark in a class of about 30 or so very bright students.I wondered if over the holidays prior to our enrollment to form 4 i had gone somewhat dumb,and somehow i felt embarrassed for myself,a week earlier Botswana Guardian  had dedicated a full page about my success in their newspaper so as i sat in that class,i wondered if i was a phony-you know an impostor of smart.The atmosphere in Mater Spei was different from what i had been used to in Kgatadimo.A junior secondary school in the outskirts of Kgagodi,Tamasane and Mogapinayana.There my knowledge of the english subject,and the fact that my ''uncle'' who in fact was my cousin was a teacher in the same school -had earned me a superiority spot over the other students-but in Materspaei I was just an unremarkable village girl,short hair,acne infested with two knocking knees.Nothing much to look at or admire.Inside though i knew i had a tenacity most would never break.So after my second test,in Chemistry,where again i was in the average pupils band,i decided,i was going to fight.Not because i felt dumb,but because i knew there was so much in me,and i was not getting it all out.So it was with a resolute mind,that every saturday afternoon,i would sit alone,sometimes with a friend or two in the PL4,study my additional mathematics,question after question,my Setswana idiom and proverb for proverb.My Macbeth,My  Biology to the point where missing an afternoon would so unsettle me.Sometimes i would be the only girl amidst 12 boys,drinking oros,magwinya and eating meat from the school kitchen.It came in handy that we studied with high ranking school prefects.I was a prefect ...but not so good at getting a bowl of meat from the school kitchen.The fact that i was tomboyish heped me blend in with the boys so well,they all saw me as just another guy,and we would do those math questions,competing and i would feel so happy in that state.Solving quadratics,calculus, and whatever math topic you can think of.Those were my boys,and i loved hanging out with them more than anything.Sad thing is i only got to realise how boyyish i had been years later through photos,no wonder i had  such a  stale love life in High school.I could have experienced the butterflies,and the pounding of hearts,but hey,i bet with my glasses-i was too nerdish for that.My favorite teacher was Mr Masilo,i cant say for sure if i was his favorite student but i know if i could vote for the best teacher ever he would get my vote for sure.He helped me with physics.I had a hard time  understanding  forces,and masses and velocity,but he simplified my life so much physics became a breeze.He never pushed me,but i always wanted to do more,he was the kind of teacher who was interested in my success as a student --however this sometimes did not go well with others,because he did not hide his favoritism for me.He would ask me to attend afternoon classes with his students and refuse other students from attending. He didnt care what anyone thought and at that time i didn't think much of that.After all,we got connected because i had pestered my own teacher so much with physics questions and he had referred me time and time gaain to Mr Masilo,to the point where when he saw me he would ask me what the question for the day was.He got to meet my mother a few years after i left Mater Spei,My mom transferred from Lotsane to Mater Spei a year after I left,and he was surprised that i was my own mom's daughter.My mom is pretty,she dresses well,after all she is an art teacher and mixing and matching comes easily to her.She is so pretty you just have to stop and stare,despite the fact that she is getting wrinkles around the eyes.I don't know who is lucky-my dad or her-because according to who you listen to-they both claim they are more beautiful or handsome than the other.Anyway ,enough about my mom,and dad.I had another parent in Mater Spei.The young and lively Sister Viado.She would chase after every girl wearing a short dress,and even if you were an Amantle Montsho or Nigel Amos,she woul dhunt you down and find you.I never got into trouble with her over dresses,but once i lip singed during a prefect's choir practise and she noticed.Oh boy,i had to sing that day.Singing has never been a talent i loved.Perhaps it's becaus ein primary school we were asked to drink raw cooking oil to make our voices smooth or it was the orange rind that we were aske dto eat that repulsed me.I even refuse to sing even  to this day.When my friends have choir practise i watch and admire from a distance.American Idol though is changing my perception on singing an once in a while i envision myself hitting high notes and being a super star.Most days though that dream is just a dream,and i am fighting towards a dream i envisioned accomplishing back in 2006 when i was asked what i wanted to do,during an interview after our success in BGCSE.I said someday i will find the cure of HIV and AIDS. I am into my fourth year of medical school.Starting my fifth year next week.A cure for HIV looks like a fading goal.But i still believe it can be found,despite the deaths that kill my spirit day in and day out.the fact that the  infection rate in my country affects  about 40 or so percent of the populations strikes a chord in my heart.It reminds me ,i still have  a lot of work to do to finally get my succes.Earlier I said  OUR SUCCESS,it is OURS because every teacher who ever sat me down,to say hey you can do better ,the likes of Mma Nare,my setswana teacher,Mma Shamukuni,my religious education teacher,Mr Chester-my literature teacher ,my class teacher Mma Ntshole,and My deputy Head teacher and many others whose names are eluding me now,helped me to our success.They prepared me for the jungle out there.A jungle where there are many lions,hyenas,cheetahs ready to tear one's dreams down.I still encounter a cheetah claw once in a while,but like the rulers i look up to,i know,its just a bruise--and life goes on