COVID did not stop her: Rabo reflects on struggles
Graduate student Vaulina Rabo sets her sights on helping out people in her community after finally completing her five years of study at the University of the South Pacific (USP).
Rabo, who recently graduated this month, had received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Politics.
Dedicating her achievement to her family and friends for their support over the years, Rabo said her final year at USP was very challenging, given that the COVID-19 had put her in a very challenging position: no laptop to do her pending assignments especially when the school library and labs were closed and she had to study from home.
“Learning in an environment outside of the university was very challenging as I didn’t have a laptop and I had to walk to the next village to look for one”, Rabo said.
She said she had been using her phone, which led her to almost give up and put her final semester on hold but thanks to a friend she managed to borrow her laptop so she could do her assignments.
Most of her assignments were due during the weekends and she also had to do house chores. She could not relax while her family were doing their work.
It was also distracting trying to focus on assignments in the same house where her family were moving around so she had to move 35 minutes away from the house to continue her work.
Born and raised in a village in Nadroga, a province in Fiji, Rabo is the second youngest daughter in her family and the first child to graduate from university.
She attended Cuvu College before she enrolled at USP in 2016. She first enrolled in Geography and History. However, during her second semester, she changed her programme to Politics and History.
“She is very outspoken when it comes to learning as she is always honest about her learning process”, said Steven Shivneshwar, a very close friend of Rabo.
“If she does not know the answer, expect an honest response”, he said.
He said Rabo is a person who always tries to hype up and motivate people even though she is battling through her own personal issues.
“Rabo is a very ambitious person and to come this far and graduate just shows that for her to achieve a future personal and career goals are still valid”, he added
“I am very proud of her, especially considering what she has been through and faced during her university journey. She has made her family feel proud of their upbringing and teachings.”
“On a personal note, she would not have completed her studies without the support of all her friends and relatives whom she shared her tertiary journey with.”
For Rabo, securing a degree after five years of struggle is a dream come true, not just hers but her mother’s, who passed away in 2019.
She said many people thought that as a farmer and fisherman’s daughter, she wouldn’t make it this far but thanks to her hardworking father and siblings who provided for her with the help of other families and friends, she made it to where she is now.
“It was not an easy journey being in USP where I get asked so many times, ‘when are you going to graduate? You’ve been there too long’ rather than ‘how is school going?’”, she said.
“I had to continue to prove those people wrong in the five and half years of being in USP with hardwork and tears.”
She said that experience taught her to keep going no matter what she had to go through because she would get through it.
Her father, William Bakewa said Rabo has made her whole family proud and words cannot express how happy they are for her.
“If only her mother was here to see her holding her degree, she would be so proud because she always wanted Rabo to complete her studies”, he said.
“It always brings me to tears whenever I get to talk about what I went through all those years to get this degree”, said Rabo.
Despite all the hardships, she remains optimistic about her future and hopes to get a job at any organization that helps people in need.
Steven said Rabo’s achievement is a living testimony of how far humility and dedication can take an individual to live up to their ambitions.
Comments
Post a Comment