Student Life – Projects

I think for me, my life never stops.

You know, I'm always on the go.

I've got four children.

It can get quite interesting;

it can get stressful.

On Sunday, we go to church.

Church has become

very much a part of our lives.

It's given us a social life.

When we get back from church,

we do three sets of washing.

We get homework out of the way.

We get violin practice out of the way.

Sometimes, you just need somewhere

to just go and be you,

and have a quiet moment.

And my garden is my sanctuary window.

Sometimes, I just sit there,

you know, and listen to

the birds and think how far I've come,

you know, despite all the odds.

I'm currently studying

children's literature

and it's my final year of studying.

The project I did

is part of my distance learning course.

It's about children's literature, say, from

the beginning of when people started

to write for children,

and how it's evolved

over the years.

You choose a question,

and then you sort of bring

together all the assignments

that you've done.

The length of the project is

different from

the normal assignments:

it's twice the normal assignments.

It's involved a lot of online research,

a lot of group discussions, and

media research, which

I find difficult.

You get placed within a group,

and then you choose

a book, and then you discuss it.

If you choose a book that's been made into

a film, you also

have to look at the film;

look at the reviews

and the criticisms it's had,

and then you compare and contrast it.

I did online research on various criticisms,

but the majority of it was writing:

I did a lot of writing.

You have an introduction.

You have your body and the conclusion.

For me, it was a big challenge.

Fortunately for me, my group

were very supportive.

With an assignment sometimes,

I can sit there in one day and write it.

In writing a project,

you've got enough time to do it.

You get somebody to read it for you

to see that it makes sense

and I don't often get to do

that with my assignments.

I suffer from sickle cell disease:

it's a genetic illness,

so it constantly makes me anaemic.

I haven't got an immune system

because of that,

so I tend to spend a fair bit of

time in hospital.

Distance learning has been

good for me because it has

reduced that travelling

to university, and

your disability shouldn't limit you.

So, you're here to dictate to that

disability and not the other way around.

Currently, I work as a teaching assistant.

On a daily basis,

my job is very interesting;

no one day is the same.

I do love my job.

I think the children bring

the best out of

me, and hopefully I bring

the best out of them as well.

After I've graduated, I hope

to train as a primary school teacher,

come out as a professional

despite all my difficulties,

and make my children proud.

Go the distance.