The concepts of now, now-now and just-now, have different meanings for South Africans, but for international students, it all sounds the same. Intercultural differences are usually one of the most prominent challenges that international students face when they come to the city of oak trees, but with the global Covid-19-pandemic, international students had to overcome additional hurdles.
The biggest challenge for international students coming to Stellenbosch is not necessarily the social distancing, but the “psychological distancing” and not connecting with fellow-students.
This is according to Angelo Jephtha, the Student Success coordinator at the Stellenbosch University (SU) International Office.
“In the past, students would come into the office and sometimes they would just come and sit. Now everybody is at an arm’s length. Everything is so distant. It’s a psychological and a physical distance taking place,” says Jephtha.
Despite the challenges that came with Covid-19, international students often experience intercultural misunderstandings, according to Jephtha.
“One of the things that frustrates them is probably the whole concept of now, just-now and now-now. What they also find difficult to understand is that South Africans make appointments and they casually come 15 minutes late,” says Jephtha.
This photo album was given to Angelo Jephtha by an international student. “The album was only filled halfway with photos. She said the rest was for me to make memories with other students,” says Jephtha. PHOTO: Carla Visagie
Where are the international students?
The number of international students at SU have dropped significantly due to the Covid-19-pandemic, Jephtha says.
“We usually had 300 freemovers [students who are accepted to study at a university outside of a standard programme]. This year we only had 150. But since the start of the year, we have had a partnership with SKEMA, a business school in France, who provided us with 140 students,” says Jephtha.
SU’s agreement with Skema Business School entails that the business school offers courses at SU, with SU providing the logistical support and infrastructure needed to implement its academic activities on campus, according to a press release on SU’s website.
In Concordia, the official residence for international students, there were 85 students throughout the pandemic, but this year there were still no international students from China, Singapore, Japan and North America, according to Ester de Villiers, the residence coordinator.
Ester de Villiers, the residence coordinator of Concordia, a Stellenbosch University residence for mainly international students. PHOTO: Carla Visagie
Living in a ghost town
One of the biggest challenges with the pandemic was missing people around him, says Masiiwa Zata, one of the few students who stayed in Stellenbosch since the commencement of the pandemic in March 2020. Zata lives in Metanoia student residence and the last time he was at his home in Zimbabwe was in March 2020, before Vensters, an annual event during welcoming week where first-year Maties put their talents on display.
“You don’t realise how much the people around you have an effect on your wellbeing. So, just Metanoia being a very big space and it being very quiet was a lot for me,” says Zata, a fourth year BEng (Chemical) student.
Even though the virtual leadership as HC of Metanoia residence wasn’t ideal, there were positive aspects about it, according to Masiiwa Zata, a fourth-year BEng (Chemical) student at Stellenbosch University, is originally from Harare, Zimbabwe. AUDIO: WhatsApp/Masiiwa Zata
Being one of very few House Committee (HC) members who stayed behind in Metanoia during the pandemic, Zata says he and another international student, Florence Aruko “basically had to run Metanoia”.
Aruko, originally from Uganda, says that she decided to stay in the residence, because “the situation back home was really, really bad” and she did not want to risk getting sick.
The third-year BA (Humanities) student says that having the responsibilities that come with being a HC member helped to keep the homesickness away. However, it remained difficult for her to not be with her family during these difficult times.
“I did lose some family members as well, so it was pretty bad. I couldn’t go back for the funerals, or anything like that. Not being able to support [my family] was really hard,” says Aruko.
Florence Aruko, a third-year BA (Humanities) student wearing elephant earrings she got in Uganda. PHOTO: Carla Visagie
Being one of the only leaders that stayed behind in the residence, Aruko also had to cater for the wellbeing of other students.
“That was the hardest part. I think I had five or six phone calls and/or relatives coming to the residence to check if they are still okay, because they haven’t heard from them in seven days,” Aruko says.
Making friends
The restrictions on social events affect both international and local students, because there is limited integration of cultures, Jephtha says.
“Now that integration is a very slow and painstaking process. Whereas in the past it was almost organic, now we have to limit the interaction,” says Jephtha.
While it was challenging to meet South African students during the welcoming period, the Matie Buddy Programme helped her to settle into the SU community, says Lorna Font y Bosch, a masters student in business and economic management from the SKEMA Business School in France.
“I enrolled into the Matie Buddy Programme, and I had literally the best Matie Buddy ever. She showed me around and we even went for dinner together,” says Font y Bosch, who came to SU for a semester exchange programme from March 2021 to the beginning of July.
Hanna Klaus, a lecturing assistant from Germany who teaches German as a foreign language, says that online teaching made it difficult to connect with the students.
“It’s hard to build a relationship, you don’t see [students’] reaction. I have officially like 40 people in my class, but in the call it’s maybe 10 to 15. I haven’t even met all of my colleagues yet,” says Klaus.
Hannah Klaus, a lecturing assistant that teaches German, says it was difficult to get used to the safety risks that Stellenbosch poses as opposed to Germany. “Just the other day when I walked a dog from the Animal Shelter, a man approached me and told me ‘you mustn’t walk here, it’s dangerous’ and I was like ‘but it is in the middle of the day?’” PHOTO: Carla Visagie
Despite the lockdown restrictions, students were still “captivated by Stellenbosch”, says De Villiers.
“I must honestly say, most of the international students love it here. The other thing is, there was a pandemic everywhere in the world. Students were actually very resilient,” De Villiers says.
Ester de Villiers, the residence coordinator of Concordia, says that she really wants to make the residence feel like a home away from home. “I remember that I still hung these flags myself,” says De Villiers. PHOTO: Carla Visagie
On the other side of the world
Feroll-Jon Davids, an SU semester exchange student, wrote in a blog on SU International’s website that he had difficulties returning to South Africa. Davids studied Music Performance at Montana State University-Bozeman (MSU) in the first semester of 2020, and described his time abroad as “incredibly beneficial to [his] growth, both as an individual and a musician”.
“I bought a new ticket to leave for South Africa from Los Angeles on 27 March,” explains Davids in his blog post. “However, United Airlines cancelled that flight the day before I was due to leave, because President [Cyril] Ramaphosa declared a complete lockdown of 21 days starting on 25 March, including the closure of all airports to passenger flights.”
Davids managed to return to South Africa on 3 May 2020 on a repatriation flight. But despite the complications with his overseas trip, he will find it “hard to resist” if he is “faced with the prospect of engaging internationally again”, Davids writes in the blog.